Pokémon Real
by Jhopthewriter
Summary: Two guys just wanted to have a normal day. But they didn't and they got trapped inside a Pokémon game, along with thousands of other people. One of the dudes knows everything about Pokémon while the other knows nothing. Join our heroes as they attempt to escape the game and return to the real world! Rated T for language, humor, and dialogue.
1. Chapter 1: Pilot

"Jake, I think you like Brooklyn Myers." I looked over at my friend Matt Collins and threw a pillow at him. It missed, but he got idea. "I don't like her. We're not in the same social circle."

"God Jake, don't bring up your conspiracy about the eighth grade being segregated."

"Matt, you're in high school, you wouldn't understand."

"You do realize you're basically the only one who's in the eighth grade coming to my birthday party. Other than Brooklyn."

"Matt, you really do make me want to punch you in the stomach." I grunted.

"Jake, if you could get me the new Nintendo Real, that would be great."

"Matthew," I said very annoyed, "I'm not getting you the new Nintendo."

"Jake," He sarcastically replied, "You could just give me yours. You're the biggest nerd I know."

"Matt, you do know that I pre-ordered it and that it's gonna be here after your birthday." Matt was turning fifteen, and I was currently thirteen. He was right about me being a nerd, considering had all the Kanto Pokémon cards, but one. I didn't have a Pidgey. I had searched all throughout Ebay and Amazon, but no one had a freaking Pidgey. I did like other nerdy things though. Star Wars was my number two-nerd thing, after Pokémon, of course. Matt was almost my polar opposite. He did wrestling and he was a true party man. I was more quiet and a little bit more on the bright side. I went to FDR Middle School, while Matt went to JFK High School, which I was going to go to next year. It was a cool Spring Saturday morning, and Matt was at my house to chill. He had a wrestling match later today, and I said I would actually go. I only did one sport, and that was swimming. Matt had RKO'd me once, when I was eleven and he was thirteen, and he broke my wrist. Matt was more muscular and taller than me. He had blue eyes and dark brown hair. I was almost as tall as him, and I was basically a pole. I had brown eyes and I also had dark brown hair. Matt continued to pester me about my social life in general, and my sister came walking down the stairs. "Okay you guys, I'm going to the mall to go shopping with Sydney. You two stay out of trouble. K?"

"You're so stereotypical sometimes, Audrey." I replied.

She scoffed and walked back up the stairs. I was sitting on a dusty, old couch in the basement, while Matt was sitting in a recliner that didn't work anymore. My parents were out of town on a business trip, they worked for an insurance company or something, and Audrey was watching me. I looked over at Matt and his face was red as the Pokeball I was playing with. He had a major crush on Audrey who was two years his senior. She had dark brown hair and brown eyes, like me. She also went to JFK, and she was the most popular girl in school. I was kind of in the middle crowd, but it didn't matter. I got good grades, and that's all that really mattered. "Matt, my sister has no interest in you. You might as well accept it." Matt didn't reply and looked at his phone. "I've gotta go. The wrestling match is in an hour and I've gotta be there ASAP. You can follow me on your bike if you want."

"Thanks Matt." I said.

We walked upstairs and I made sure the door was locked when we walked out. We walked over to our bikes and we saw Audrey pull out of the driveway in her pink Corvette she had gotten for her Sweet Sixteen. Matt and I rode our bikes through town and eventually reached the high school. Matt did well in wrestling, so we went back home to celebrate. I suggested that we play on my Nintendo Real, but I remembered it was coming in a few days. Matt was watching a NBA basketball game, and I was checking my email. An email came up from Amazon that said that my Nintendo Real would be here as early as tomorrow. I told Matt the good news, and another email came in. It was from GameStop, who said that I could use my reward points to buy the new Pokémon game, Pokémon Real. It was predicted by many to become one of the best video game sellers ever, so I would get it the day after it came out so I wouldn't have to camp out for it. Matt and I stayed up late playing poker, with Monopoly money, and he eventually left. I went upstairs to my room, and saw Audrey in her bed sleeping. I got in my bed and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning to see a Post-it-note on my head. I grabbed it and read what it said, _"You got a package. Breakfast is downstairs and I'm going to Sydney's house for a little while. –Audrey"_ I ran downstairs and saw a large package on the kitchen counter. It was the Nintendo Real. I ripped open the box and carried it downstairs to the basement to plug it in and to start playing on it. I wondered why it had gotten here so early? Probably just to keep customers happy. I had the console all set up, and I began to play the game that came with it, Real Sports. I put the disk in the console, and I wondered where the controller was. I walked back upstairs to see where it was, and there were two head mounted displays that were almost like Nintendo VRs. There was one extra remote, but I left it in the box and ran downstairs with the two displays. I plugged the first one into the Nintendo Real, and put the display on. It looked so real. I selected to play tennis, and I got my exercise for the day. I heard the doorbell ring after a couple of hours and I took off the display. I ran upstairs and opened to door, to find Matt. "Happy Birthday, Matt." I said.

"I heard you got the Real. Let's play." Matt said.

"Wait," I said, "I need to go to GameStop to get another game."

"Let's get out bikes then." I ran upstairs to my room, and put on my Pokéball t-shirt, some jeans, and my Chuck Taylor's. I ran back downstairs, grabbed my wallet, my phone, and I headed outside. Matt and I rode to the mall and we ran into it. Matt desperately wanted a large pretzel, but I refused. We had a mission. We reached GameStop and the line was huge. It was at the door, and Matt said, "We don't have time to wait, let's just get it after school tomorrow." I thought for a moment and replied, "I know what to do." Luckily I had brought my backpack, which had my books and books full of Pokémon cards. "Pokémon fans," I shouted, "let me and my friend through, or face the consequences." They all began to laugh, but I pulled out my Pokémon card books. They all gasped and I continued, "I challenge your best Pokémon card player to a match, and if I win, I get to cut all of you. If I lose, I leave." A man that looked five years older than me stepped out. He pulled out his wallet and said, "Let's get this started kid." We sat down in a crisscross position and I picked out six Pokémon. I chose Blastoise, Pidgeot, Sandshrew, Golduck, Gengar, and Umbreon. He picked out cards from his wallet, which were Charizard, Beedrill, Arbok, Nidoking, Primeape, and Electabuzz. We established that we wouldn't use legendries, and that we would keep this game simple. I had first move so I sent out Sandshrew and he sent out Nidoking. The battle had begun. The battle lasted for almost an hour, with the masses of nerds huddling around us, betting on us. A news crew had even shown up, and they had told us we would be on Channel 4 ten o'clock news. Matt had left to go get a pretzel, but he came back with a water bottle for me. We were both on our last Pokémon, which were Blastoise and Beedrill. I used Splash Bomb, which put him down to 10 HP, but we had to flip a coin, which landed tails, so I lost 30 HP. He didn't have any potions, and I had one, so the game looked like an easy win. But then he used Flash Needle. Flash Needle deals 40 times the number of heads on a coin. Since we didn't have any Pokémon coins on us, we used a quarter. All three were heads. I now had 30 HP now. I thought about either using a potion, but he would use his Flash Needle again, and if I used Splash Bomb again, it would end in a draw. So I decided to use Rapid Spin. I won the match. The man shook my hand and he said, "Good game, kid. We need to play again sometime. You have the right to cut us." A few nerds started to cheer for me, and Matt and I went to the front of the line. The clerk asked us what we wanted, and I said Pokémon Real. It would cost me $80, so I used my reward points. I still needed five more dollars, so I dug out my wallet and paid. The clerk handed me the game and Matt and I left. Matt's birthday party was in three hours, so we decided to go home and chill to play on the Nintendo. We went back home and ran downstairs to play the game. We ignored Audrey who was protesting about us leaving the box and all of the trash everywhere. I put the game in and we had to put on special bracelets for it to work. There were three, a blue one, a red one, and a pink one. Matt put on the blue one and I put on the red one. We had the displays in our hands, but Audrey came downstairs to protest even more. "Jake, you can't just ignore me, I'm your sister. Your _older_ sister."

"Go talk to Sydney or something, me and Matt are trying to play a game." She looked at the small box that had the pink bracelet in it and put it on. I opened my mouth and she said, "This matches my new dress." I shrugged and we put on the displays. I turned the game on, and everything turned black. I couldn't see anything. But then a felt the cold, hard ground hit me. I opened my eyes and saw trees all around me, and I heard voices. I felt for my face to take the display off, but I didn't feel anything. I immediately sat up and looked around. I looked to my right and saw a village that looked full of people and houses. I ran into the village and tried to find Matt. "Have any of you seen a guy, fifteen, and he has-" A guy bumped into me and I said, "Hey, what's the deal?" I looked up at him, and it was Matt. "Jake, where are we?"

"I don't know." I said. A firework went off in the sky and everyone looked up. A projection of an older man started to speak. "Welcome gamers! You are now currently in Palet Town, of the Kanto region!" Everyone gasped and started to panic. "Do not fret, this will be a fun and educational experience for all of you Pokémon lovers. My name is Professor Oak. Now you all must come to my lab to get your starter Pokémon and begin your Pokémon journey!" My jaw was almost hitting the floor. Matt, knowing only the surface of Pokémon, looked very confused. "Matt, we have to get to the lab."

"Why, what's happening?"

I couldn't answer that question. My hypothesis was that we'd been sucked into the game along with the thousands of other people. It was kind of like Tron. I did have many questions though. How do we get out? Does time pass like it does in the real world? Are the rules of this game the same as Pokémon Red and Blue? We looked over at the lab and it was very, very crowded, so Matt and I went over to a shop to see if we could get any information. The shopkeeper was an NPC, of course, so she was very quiet. I looked around and I saw a book that was titled, _The Rules of Pokémon Real and How to Play._ I picked it up and walked over to the clerk. "How much is this book?"

"For now it is free until The Maker gives Order 315."

I ignored the last part she said, so Matt and I walked out. The line had cleared up a little, so Matt and I got in line. We were the third people in line, and the first person got their Pokémon. They walked by us, and I recognized them. It was Audrey. I stopped her and I asked, "How did you get here?"

"Jake? How did-"

"Answer my question."

"After I put on that bracelet, everything went dark and I woke up in the town."

"What Pokémon did you get?" I asked.

"I got a Charmander. At least that's what I think it is. I also got a thing called a Pokédex and some other stuff. See you later." I tried to get her to wait, but Matt told me I was first in line. "Hello," the man at the desk said, "What Pokémon would you like?" He set a case of three Pokéballs in front of me, and I had to think for a minute. "Which one is Squirtle?" I asked. He pointed to the one in the middle and I picked it up. "Squirtle it is then," He said, then handing me a bag. "This is your bag. All of your things like money, food, Pokéballs, a map, or anything else, is in here." I turned around, but the man stopped me. "You forgot this." He handed me a Pokédex and I put it in my pocket. I walked out the door and waited for Matt. He came out and I asked, "What Pokémon did you get."

"I randomly picked one. I think it was a Bulbasaur."

"Cool," I said, "I wonder what we do now?"

"You have the book. Look at it." I opened it, and started to read it. Our journey was about to begin.

 **A/N Welcome to Pokémon Real! This is my first Pokémon fanfiction, and I hope you all enjoy it. The idea originally came from my friend when we were talking about Pokémon, so I thought it would be a good idea to write about, so I've made a few modifications. Please note I do not own Pokémon and a few of the ideas in this story come from the friend I mentioned. Please remember to Favorite, Follow, Review, and Catch Em' All!**


	2. Chapter 2: The Massacre of Pallet

We had begun to walk while I read out the main instructions and tips in the book. "So apparently we catch Pokémon like we do in the games, each day is twenty-four hours, we will need food, we can buy things from PokéMarts and Pokémon Centers, and if we die in the game, we die in real life." Matt looked at me like I was crazy and he asked, "So we could die?"

"Yes, potentially. The main goal of the game is to get all of the gym badges and defeat the Elite Six. If we lose when facing the Elite Six, we also die."

"Whoa, I thought this was gonna be like Pokémon Go." I looked at Matt and I wanted to punch him. I really disliked Pokémon Go, and I was the first one to predict that it would fall in a matter of weeks. "No Matt, this is more serious than Pokémon Go." We were walking out of town, but an exclamation point started beeping in front of us. _"Warning, you have not created a guild,"_ A message above it said. _"If you do not create one next time you leave, you will be terminated."_

"What's a guild?" Matt asked.

"I don't know. Maybe we should go back into town."

We walked back into town and we found a building that said, 'GUILDS.' We walked in and there were computers with people using them. I walked over to one and turned one on. It started a short video and it said in crawl-style, _"Welcome to Pokémon Real by Gamefreak and Nintendo! Here in the Kanto Region you will explore and find Pokémon! Since you have been transported into the Kanto Region, friends probably accompany you. We want you to have fun while you're in the Kanto Region, so we want you to spend time with your friends. In order to do that, we have created special guilds for you to hang with your friends. Please insert a name for your guild below:"_ A box came up and I had to put in a name. "What should our name be?" I asked Matt. He paused for a moment and replied, "How about, _Comedy_?"

"Why just comedy?"

He pointed to the screen and next to the box was the word Clan. I thought it was a stupid name, but I agreed. It then asked who was in the Clan and I put in our names. Much to my surprise, pictures came up of us and it asked if this was us. I clicked yes and it said we now had a clan. A printer next to the computer printed out two laminated cards of our faces and what guild we were in next to it. I thought about Audrey, so I added her name, but it said she already had a guild. I was shocked, seeing as she probably knew no one, and I wondered where she was. Matt and I walked outside and I saw Audrey talking to someone. He turned around and I recognized who it was. It was the guy who I battled outside of GameStop with my Pokémon cards. Audrey saw me and I waved. She walked over to me with the guy and she said, "Hey Jake. This is Chris, he's my new friend." I looked closely at him and he had stubble, short brown hair, green eyes, and tanned skin. He looked like he had just walked out of an indie band concert, based on the clothes he was wearing. He smiled at me and I smiled back. "We made a new clan. You guys should join." Audrey said.

"Sorry, Matt and I already made a guild." I replied.

"That's a shame," Chris added, in his deep voice, "You seem like a good trainer. In card battles, at least."

"Thanks." I replied. We had an awkward silence for a few minutes and I asked, "Audrey, do you need any help with anything?"

"No, Chris debriefed me on everything. I think we better get going now, Chris is getting eager to catch some new Pokémon. See you guys later."

They turned around and walked away, with Audrey putting her head on Chris's shoulder. Matt grimaced at the sight. We walked out of town and we noticed it was getting dark. I looked in my backpack for a sleeping bag, and I found one. We were about a mile or two outside of the village when we set up camp. Matt started a small fire while I got out a box of crackers to snack on. Matt went to sleep a little earlier than I did, while I read the manual to the game. The rules were basically the rules of Pokémon Red and Blue, with a few twists. If we lost a battle, we would lose one life, as we had a total of seven lives. We could only catch six Pokémon because the game didn't follow the PC rule like the other games did. The only way to get out of the game was to beat all of the gyms and defeat the Elite Six, and then you would have to enter a code into a system that would trigger a release system. In the real world, no time would pass at all. I eventually fell asleep while reading the book, and I started to dream. I was walking down a hill and there was a Pikachu. He motioned for me to follow him and he led me to a chest. He opened the chest with his small hands and he handed me a Nintendo DS. Confused, I opened my mouth, but my dream was cut short by Matt waking me up. "Get up, there's something wrong." I immediately packed all of my things back up and we ran up to a hill overlooking Pallet Town. The small town looked like hell. There was fire everywhere and there was a message in the sky that showed a giant red R. My mouth was hitting the floor again. "What does that mean?" Matt asked.

"It's Team Rocket." I replied.

I sprinted down the village while passing numerous bodies on the ground. I eventually ran into the center of the village and there was a note posted on the side of a building. _"Hail Giovanni. Team Rocket has received orders to proceed with Operation 315. The order is to terminate anyone who thinks they can camp in Pallet Town and live there. The slime that have died have died because of their stupidity, thinking they could make things normal again. Hail Giovanni."_ I heard someone shouting in a building that looked like it was about the collapse and I ran inside. There was a man who was buried under rubble, and Matt and I tried to pull him out. When he was free, I noticed there was a large Beedrill stinger sticking out of his chest. He grabbed my shoulder and he said, "There w-were others! Others with red R's on their chests and they had Pokémon. They killed us all. There were Beedrills and Arboks everywhere. I think thousands have died. Please h-he.. help…" The man's head slumped forward. He was dead. Matt and I walked outside and Matt asked, "Who did this?"

"Team Rocket. They're bad guys who wanna steal Pokémon. This never happened in Pokémon Red or Blue." I looked at Matt and said, "We have to get out of here now." He nodded and we ran away from the town. We ran past a sign that said, 'Route 1' and we numerous trainers in sleeping bags or they were talking to each other. There weren't many though. We passed right by them and when we were miles away from the town Matt asked, "Where are we going?"

"I think we're close to Viridian City. I don't know though. The maps are like they are in the games so they're inconclusive. We should just follow the road."

"What about catching Pokémon?" Matt asked. I thought about that question for a minute. "I don't think we should yet. Not until we establish what's happened to us."

"Well… We got stuck inside of a video game." Matt paused for a minute and continued. "Your sister also got a new friend." His face reddened when he said that and I replied, "That's a start." We sat all of our things down and I sat on the ground. Matt continued to stand up and he asked, "Jake, are we dreaming? Is this for real?"

"It has to be. We went to sleep last night."

"Couldn't that be a part of the dream?" Matt asked. I stood up and slapped Matt in the face. "Is it a dream now?" I asked. "No, it's not." He quietly answered. We watched numerous people pass us and we wanted to wait until everyone passed us. We didn't want to be a part of a caravan. It was sunset when we decided to move on and everyone was a ways in front of us. Matt and I were walking and he asked, "How does one catch a Pokémon? Don't you throw…" Matt started to chuckle at the next word and I replied, "Balls? Yes Matt, you throw balls at Pokémon." Matt started laughing out of control. I couldn't help but chuckle at the joke Matt had made and how he made a joke out of something so basic. We continued on and Matt asked again, "But for real, do you throw the balls they gave us at the Pokémon?"

"Yeah, you have to do some damage to one first." I replied.

I grabbed the map from my pack and I looked at where we were. I positioned ourselves about a mile away from Viridian City, and I predicted it would take roughly another half hour for us to get there. It was starting to get dark so I suggested to Matt that we set up camp. Matt was against the idea and he wanted to get on to the city. I reluctantly agreed and we moved on. I always did feel like someone was watching us. It was probably a Pokémon or something. We reached Viridian City, but we had no idea where to go. We didn't know where any hotels or inns were, so we decided to locate where the Pokémon Center was. It took us a while to find it, but we did right around midnight. "Hello," The NPC Nurse Joy said, "Welcome to the Viridian City Pokémon Center. May I help you?"

"Yeah," Matt replied, "Do you have somewhere to sleep?"

"Yes. Luckily there is one more room for you and your friend to stay in. It is upstairs to the left. You'll know it when you see it." Matt thanked her and we walked up to the room. We walked inside and Matt immediately fell on the bed. I shook him to wake him back up, but he was out cold. I took off my dirty clothes that I had worn since right before I went to GameStop. I changed into a black tee shirt and I slept in my underwear. I got under the covers and I dozed off. I dreamed about the Pikachu dream where I left off. It handed me the DS and I asked, "What is this for?"

"Pika, pi?" It asked.

I turned on the DS and the screen lit up. It showed the Konami Code. I put the code into the DS and I immediately woke up. I heard someone knocking on the door and I got out of bed to see who it was. I looked through the peephole. It was a female Team Rocket agent. My mouth was hanging wide open again. There was no way for Matt and I to escape. There was a window but we were probably dozens of feet from the ground. I slipped on some clothes to look normal and I opened the door. I asked, "What can I help you with today?"

"Team Rocket is doing a sweep of hotels to check for Pokémon. You are not aloud to stay in here. You can only camp outside of the city." I gulped and I put my hand on the door. She put her foot in the doorframe and I started to sweat. My one Pokéball was in my backpack and so was Matt's. Matt was still asleep, and I shook him awake. "What Jake, I'm trying to sleep." He got a glimpse of the Team Rocket agent and almost fell out of bed. She was wearing a white crop top with a red R on it with some white shorts. Her bleach blonde hair was tucked under a hat that said, 'Team Rocket Grunt.' I looked at Matt and whispered, "What do we do?"

"I don't know. Maybe we could grab our bags and run."

She was looking in the trashcan next to my bed, and I put my hand on my bag. I slowly zipped it up without her noticing and I put it on my back. She turned around and her eyes went wide. I made a run for it. I heard gunshots behind me and I saw Matt running beside me. We ran passed the other grunts out the door, with the majority chasing us. _Where's Officer Jenny and the rest of the police?_ I wondered. A car pulled in front of us and I feared for the worst. The window rolled down and there was a kid in the front seat driving. "Get in!" He shouted. Matt opened the backseat door and jumped in, while I ran around to the passenger seat to sit in. Bullets started to hit the cars hood and the car started to speed away. _Who is the kid?_ I thought. Little did I know, he would be a valuable friend.

 **A/N I would like to note this fanfic is based more on the games than the anime. The only thing that is really based on the anime is the size of the world, cities, and routes. If they were the size of the ones in the games, this fanfiction would be much shorter. Remember to Favorite, Follow, and Review!**


	3. Chapter 3: Elliot

"Kid, who the heck are you?" I asked

"I'll tell you later, we have to get out of the city now."

Matt paused for a few seconds and asked, "Kid, how old are you?"

"I'm eight. Eight and a few days." He replied.

I looked at Matt and he shrugged. I thought it was insane, but it was better than getting killed. "Hey kid, where are we going?"

"We're going to Pewter City, but first we need to take a back road to Route 1 to pick up some friends."

Matt was eating a bag of chips that he found in his bag and he asked, "Do you smuggle people to and from cities?"

"For the past day I have." He answered.

I looked at the gas meter, and it was almost on Empty. I tapped the kid on the shoulder and asked, "Do we have gas?"

"Yeah, I've got a can full of it in the trunk."

But then the car stopped and the kid got out. I heard him open the trunk and I asked Matt, "I think we should stick with this kid. He seems to know what he's doing."

"Maybe we should steal the car when he fills the gas." Matt recommended. "No," I said, "this kid looks like he can manage his own, but he may not be able to if he runs out of gas. He may not even have a Pokémon." Matt agreed and sat back in my seat. The kid came back and said, "There's a leak. There's no oil." I hit my head against the headrest and got out of the car. The kid picked up a bag and started to walk next to me. Matt got out of the car and followed behind us. I looked back at the car and I asked, "Hey kid, are we leaving the car behind us?"

"Yeah," He replied, "There's no use for it now. Some Pokémon might make a habitat out of it." Matt was trying to keep out pace, and he kept trying to talk to me behind the kid's back. "Do you have any Pokémon?" I asked the kid.

"Yeah, I have a Bulbasaur." He stopped and sat down on a log. He put his hand in his bag and he started to breathe heavily. "Kid, you alright?" Matt asked. He pulled an inhaler out of his bag and took a shot from it. "I have asthma. The air here doesn't help me either." I nodded, having had minor asthma, I could relate. I looked closer at the kid and I noticed he was almost a head shorter than me. He had brown hair, brown eyes, and he was wearing a Pokémon Black and White shirt. He looked like a mini-me. "Kid, I have to-" He stopped me and replied, "My name is Elliot. I'm not much younger than you." He turned around and kept on walking. Matt walked closer to me and whispered in my ear, "This kid thinks he's our boss. I say we ditch him."

"No Matt, let's stick with him for a little while." I whispered back.

He sighed and he asked, "When are we gonna catch Pokémon?"

"Soon, but we need wait a while. I have a bad feeling about all of this."

"What do you mean?" Matt asked.

"This Elliot kid could be a Team Rocket grunt."

Matt stopped and looked at me for a second and replied, "He's eight freaking years old. He's not bad."

"It's a theory. Besides, you said we should ditch him." I answered."

We walked on a little more, and Elliot had to stop again to take another shot from his inhaler. I grabbed my phone from out of my pack and I opened it. It worked. And there was great service for T-Mobile here. I quickly opened my phone and opened my contacts. Mom and Dad were on speed dial, then Audrey, then Matt, so I called my parents. I got voicemail so then I called Audrey. The phone kept ringing for a few seconds and someone picked up. "Hello? Jake, what's up?" Audrey's voice said.

"Look, we need to meet up. Have you reached the town Viridian City?"

"Yeah, we passed it a couple of hours ago. Chris and I bought clothes, food, and other stuff. Where are you and Matt?"

I sighed with relief when she said she had passed Viridian City. "Matt and I are trying to avoid the city. We're trying to walk around it."

"Why?" She asked.

"Bad stuff happened. Where can we meet you and Chris?"

"Wait, what happened, should I-" The call stopped and I looked at my phone. It was dead. I tried to turn it on again, but it didn't work. I thought I had charged it the night before we went in the game, and I was pretty sure I didn't use it at all. Elliot was eating a slice of bread and Matt asked, "Did you just call someone?"

"Yeah, I called Audrey. My phone died though." I replied.

I noticed my stomach started the growl and I looked through my bag for food. There were a few granola bars and a sandwich with chicken and mayo on it. Matt had the same thing and so did Elliot. I looked at the sky and assumed that it was around lunchtime. "You guys wanna eat?" I asked. Both of them nodded and we set up a table on a rock. I picked up the sandwich and a granola bar and we began to eat. I ate really fast, and so did Matt, but Elliot took a while because he wanted to sit and rest for a minute. While he was still eating I asked, "How'd you get here, Elliot?" He paused for a moment and turned around. Matt looked at me and shrugged. I got up and tapped Elliot on the shoulder and asked, "You okay, Elliot?" He was silent for a few seconds and he finally answered, "It was my birthday a few days ago and I got Pokémon Real. My party was pretty cool though. My mom made a tasty chocolate cake," He paused again and licked his lips and continued. "Anyway, one of the main things I asked for was for my dad to come home…" He started to tear up and I sat down next to him. I asked him very sincerely, "Where is your dad?"

"I don't know," He quietly replied, "My mom said he died in a car accident, but my grandparents said he died in some place called Syria when I was little."

I wanted to start crying. I could tell Matt would shed a few tears so I put my hand in my bag to grab a tissue. I was still curious about how he got in the game and I asked, "Can you continue what you were saying?" He slowly nodded and continued. "I was turning on my Nintendo Real when my mom called me into the living room. She sat me on the couch and told me that she was marrying a guy named Paul. I had met him once and I hated him." Matt and I chuckled at the fact, and Elliot kept going. "I immediately ran to my room, which is where my Nintendo Real was, and I started to cry. I didn't want a new dad. I wanted my real dad back." Elliot was a lot deeper than I thought. I just thought he was a shallow eight year old who plays Pokémon Go. Matt asked, "Well how did you get in the game? You never told us that part."

"I had forgot that I put the bracelet on and that the game turned on. It started buzzing and I looked up. That's when I woke up in the forest."

Matt and I were silent for a few seconds and Elliot asked, "Do either of you know a girl named Brooklyn Myers?"

My face reddened and Matt started laughing. Elliot had obviously found a way to defuse the situation. "How do you know that girl?" I asked.

"She's my next door neighbor. Her little sister goes to school with me." Matt kept laughing and Elliot asked, "Did I say something? What's so funny?" Matt was almost on the floor and Matt replied, "Jake has a huge crush on Brooklyn and I think it's funny how you know who she is." Matt kept trying to contain himself, but he chuckled every few seconds. Elliot laughed a little when he heard Matt's reply, which made me even redder in the face. Elliot stood up and put his backpack on. Matt was lying on the ground and he asked, "Hey kid, what's up?"

"We gotta go, _now!_ " He said very quietly.

I immediately got my things together and put them all in my bag. I was ready in about two minutes, but Matt took twice as long. When we were all ready, Elliot started to run in the opposite direction from the way we came. Matt and I tried to keep up with him and I realized something. We were heading back towards Viridian City. I shouted, "Elliot! We're heading back towards the city! We need to turn around!"

He shouted back, "We can't turn around!"

He looked back at us and shouted something that I couldn't hear. I shouted back at him and he replied, "There's something chasing us and it's catching up!" We kept running and Matt tripped over a log and fell into a hole. I almost slipped when I turned around to see if he was okay, and I ran back. I helped Matt to his feet and I felt a crunching noise. I looked down and saw a Kakuna that had a crack on its shell. "Son of a…" I didn't finish my sentence because Matt screamed, "What the H is that?" His finger was pointing at a large Beedrill flying towards us. That's when we began sprinting. We eventually caught back up to Elliot, but we were on the city outskirts. I saw Elliot jump over a log, and not come out, and I got nervous. I jumped over the log and saw that there was a small cave under the log. Matt and I crawled under and sat in a very uncomfortable position with Elliot. We were silent for about fifteen minutes, and then the Beedrill's buzzing died down.

"I'll crawl out first." Matt whispered.

He crawled out and motioned that the coast was clear. Elliot came out last, but another Beedrill came out of a tree and stabbed Elliot in the arm. Elliot fell to the ground and the Beedrill flew away. I ran over to Elliot and I felt his pulse. It wasn't strong, but there was still one. His arm wasn't bleeding, but it was purple around the area where he was stung. I started to shake him, but he was unconscious. "Matt, get me a Pecha Berry." I ordered.

Matt looked at me like I was crazy and asked, "What's a Pecha Berry?"

I groaned and replied, "It's the one shaped like a heart."

Matt started to look through my bag and his bag for one, and grabbed one out of my bag. When they gave us our bags, they came with one of each type of berry. I thought it was actually pretty neat. I grabbed the berry and put it in Elliot's mouth. I moved his jaw around so he could chew it up, and I made him swallow it. But after he swallowed it, I remembered berries weren't for humans. They were for Pokémon. Elliot started to move around very wildly like he was having a seizure. I sighed and tried to hold him still. I expected he would do something weird after eating a berry his body wasn't familiar with. Especially one that cures poison. He stopped after a few minutes and he started to cough. I shook him again and he took a large intake of air. He asked very drowsily, "What happened?" Matt was very new to all of this. He had thrown up in a bush after Elliot's nose started to rapidly bleed, and the entire seizure had scared him to death. I hugged Elliot and said, "Elliot, you almost died. And a freaking Pecha Berry saved you."

 **A/N: Don't worry, Elliot won't be that one annoying kid in a series. I do promise that they will finally catch Pokémon in the next chapter and that they will start doing gym battles pretty soon. I would also like to add that I haven't updated due to midterm exams, which took FOREVER, but I am finished now and I am on Christmas Break! Expect regular updates again** **Remember to Favorite, Follow, and Review!**


	4. Chapter 4: Gotta Catch 'Em All

Elliot was better after about two days and we continued on our journey. He had a pair of binoculars in his backpack, so we occasionally watched Viridian City from a couple of miles away. I was looking through the binoculars and Elliot asked, "Do you see anyone?"

"No, which is weird because Viridian is an important city in Kanto."

Matt grabbed the binoculars from me, after I tried to resist, and he looked through them. "Are there supposed be trucks on all of the streets?" He asked. I grabbed the binoculars back from him and looked through. There were black trucks with red R's on them.

"I'm happy we avoided the city," I said, "It's crawling with Team Rocket Grunts."

"How much longer will it take for us to go around the city?" Elliot asked.

"It could be another day. If we sped up the pace, we could probably reach Route 2 by nightfall." I answered.

Matt packed up his things and started to walk away. I put down the binoculars and asked, "Where you going, Matt?"

"Route 2. I wanna get there and catch Pokémon." He yelled back. Elliot and I packed up our things very quickly and tried to catch up with Matt. I honestly had no idea why Team Rocket would want to take over Viridian City. It literally had almost nothing of value. The only thing that was somewhat important was that it was the gateway to the Indigo Plateau. Something that did annoy me was in Pokémon Red and Blue when you walked into town and the old man that wanted coffee stopped you and was a complete turd about it. I was really happy that didn't happen to us. We kept walking and Elliot asked, "So why do you like Brooklyn Myers? I don't see anything in her. Her little sister is a little pretty though." My face turned bright red and I replied, "You know Elliot, that's a question for another day." Elliot looked at me and replied, "You must _really_ like her." I had the sudden urge to push Elliot in the mud puddle I was walking by, but I decided not to. We kept walking and I grabbed a granola bar out of my bag. I started to eat it, and I gave the last bite to Elliot, who thanked me. Matt was walking a couple of feet in front of us, which worried me. I walked up to Matt and I asked, "What's up buddy?"

He looked at me and replied, "I was thinking, what if we're here forever? What if this is just and endless quest for us to eventually die out? What if, we died a long time ago and this is just an elaborate purgatory?"

"You've been watching way to much _Lost,_ Matt. We're not dead. This is real." I replied.

"But how? How could someone or something trap thousands of people inside of a game?"

"Like I said before, it's like Tron."

Elliot ran up to us and asked what we were talking about. Matt told him it was nothing to worry about. After an hour or two of walking some more, I saw the sign that said, 'ROUTE 2.' I looked at the sky and noticed that the sun was about to set, so I recommended that we set up camp. Matt made a fire, from his experience from Boy Scouts, and I got out the sleeping bags. Elliot pulled out a bag of marshmallows, much to my surprise. "Where'd you get those, Elliot?" I asked.

"I found them in Pallet Town. Don't worry, they aren't drugged or anything, I've already eaten a few." He answered.

"Well let's roast them and eat 'em." Matt boldly ordered.

We found some sticks and put the marshmallows on the end, and we put them over the fire. Elliot didn't have any graham crackers or chocolate, so we couldn't make s'mores. We stayed up late and ate marshmallows and told each other stories. We had a really good time. But then we had to go to sleep, because Elliot was struggling to stay awake. When I went to sleep, I had another dream. It wasn't about the Pikachu with the DS, but I was tied to a chair with a blindfold around my face. I heard a door open and I heard people talking. One was feminine and the other was masculine. The woman said, "I'll get him to talk. We'll learn where they are." The man snickered and walked away. I heard footsteps come toward me and I heard the metal door close. The blindfold was taken off of me, and I couldn't see at first because of the blinding light on my face. I could only see the outline of the woman, but then I could begin to make her features out. It was the same Team Rocket Grunt that came into our hotel room in Viridian City. She still had bleach blonde hair and wore her Team Rocket uniform. "So, kid, where's the group?" I tried to speak, but I had a gag in my mouth. She untied it and I yelled, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

She grinned and grabbed some pliers from a small table and asked again, "Where are your friends and the group of Pokémon?"

I then spat in her face. She wiped it from her face with a grin and clenched her fist. She put the blindfold back on, put the pliers back on the table, and hit me square in the jaw. I woke up then. The fire was burned out and Elliot and Matt were still asleep. I quietly got up and put on some new clothes. I smelled myself and realized I smelled like a number of things, so I grabbed the clothes, a small towel that had been packed in my bag, and a bar of soap. I realized I couldn't carry everything, so I decided to bring my entire bag. I walked around to find a small lake or spring, and I found a small spring. I stripped my clothes and jumped into the water. It was surprisingly warm, and I relaxed for a minute. I grabbed the bar of soap and cleansed myself. I dried off and put on my new clothes, and I saw something in some tall grass nearby. There was a Pidgey. I immediately grabbed my bag and grabbed a Pokéball and the Pokéball with Squirtle inside of it. I slowly walked over to the tall grass, and the Pidgey saw me. It faced me, and I sent out Squirtle. "Squirtle, use Tackle!" I shouted. It hit the Pidgey, which brought it down to about half of its HP, and the Pidgey retaliated by using Sand Attack. Squirtle couldn't see for a few seconds. "Use Tackle again!" I commanded. Squirtle went for the Pidgey again, but missed, and Pidgey hit Squirtle in return. The only other move Squirtle had was Tail Whip, but I decided Tackle was the better option.

"Use Tackle one more time!" I ordered

Squirtle hit it again, and the Pidgey almost fainted. It was on the ground for a few seconds and stood up. I grabbed the Pokéball and threw it at the Pidgey. It hit in on top of the head, and the ball captured it. It budged one time. Then again. Then for the last time. I heard a clicking noise from the Pokéball and I knew that I had caught the Pidgey. I grabbed the ball from where it was on the ground and I sat down next to Squirtle. "Squirtle, Squirt?" It said.

"Good job Squirtle," I said, "You helped me catch Pidgey. I have a feeling you two will be good Pokémon." I said.

It grinned and sat down next to me. I looked around and saw a tree with Oran Berries on it and I picked one. I gave it to Squirtle and he grinned at me again. I grabbed his Pokéball from my pocket and I made him return. I gathered up all of my things and began to walk back to the camp. I came back and Matt was still asleep and Elliot was eating a granola bar. "How many more bars do we have Elliot?" I asked.

"I only have two left. I think when we get to the next town we should stock up on food."

"I agree." I said.

I looked over at Matt, who started to move, and I asked, "What time did you go to bed?"

"I don't know. It's not like I have a watch or anything." He replied. Once he was up and we had all eaten, I announced, "Guys, I caught my first Pokémon after I took a bath this morning."

"Tell me you had clothes on." Matt said.

"Yes Matt, I was dressed." I replied.

I released Pidgey from its Pokéball and Elliot looked amazed. Matt's reaction was different and he asked, "When can we go out and catch more?"

"Let's pack up first, and then we can go into the Viridian Forest and try to find some more Pokémon."

We quickly packed all of our things into our bags and we walked to the entrance of the Viridian Forest. We walked through the gateway, where an NPC was standing in the gatekeeper booth. We stopped and I went over to talk to the NPC. "Hello sir, how may I help you today." He asked in a very robotic voice.

"What's two plus two?" I asked.

It twitched and answered, "The Viridian Forest is home to dozens of kinds of Pokémon. It is a great place to catch Pokémon."

I slowly walked away and we continued. We stepped into the forest and we immediately started to walk in tall grass. We continued to walk, but we saw something moving in a patch of tall grass nearby. "I'll see what it is." Matt whispered. He quietly walked over, and I heard something. It sounded like the sound of a Pikachu. Matt frantically asked, "Jake, what do I do? I've never played Pokémon." I ran over to him and I saw that he had engaged with a wild Pikachu. "Get out the Pokémon that you have."

"The one I got back in Pallet Town?"

"Yes, throw it's ball on the ground and tell it to battle."

He found the Pokéball that had his Bulbasaur in it and he let it out. "What do I do now?" Matt asked.

"Tell Bulbasaur to use Tackle." I answered.

"Bulbasaur, use Tackle!"

The Bulbasaur hit the wild Pikachu, which took a lot of damage. The Pikachu started to charge up energy and it released a bolt of thunder at Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur looked unscathed after the hit. I had almost forgotten Grass-types were half immune to Electric-types. "Do I attack again?" Matt asked.

"No, throw a different Pokéball at it." I answered.

He found a Pokéball out of his backpack and threw it at the Pikachu. Being a pitcher in baseball, he threw it very hard at the Pikachu. The wild Pikachu went inside the ball, and the Pokéball started to budge. One. Two. Three. We both heard the clicking noise and Matt picked up the ball. "Did I just catch a Pokémon?" He asked.

"Yeah Matt. You just caught a Pikachu. Just for future reference, that's how you catch a Pokémon."

I heard Elliot say something under his breath, but I ignored it. Matt's face was glowing with joy and I felt happy for him. "Let's get a move on, shall we?" I asked. We walked away from the scene and continued through the forest. We were almost at the end of the forest, but someone jumped out of the bushes.

"I just caught some new Pokémon." The NPC Bug Catcher said, who engaged battle.

Since there were three of us, I asked, "Who do you wanna battle?"

"I'll battle you!" He shouted. He sent out a Caterpie and I sent out Squirtle. "Squirtle, use Tackle." I commanded. It hit the Caterpie and the Bug Catcher ordered, "Caterpie, use Tackle!" Squirtle was hit, but it didn't look too shaken up and I commanded, "Squirtle, use Tackle again!" It hit it again, and Caterpie looked very weak.

"Caterpie, use Tackle again!" The young NPC ordered. It hit Squirtle again, and it looked like a critical hit. "Squritle, finish it off with Tackle." I ordered. He hit Caterpie and it fainted, with the NPC sending out a Weedle. I wanted my Pokémon to level up at the same time and be evenly balanced, so I sent out Pidgey.

"Weedle," The NPC shouted, "use Poison Sting!"

A stinger hit Pidgey, and it looked like almost nothing happened to Pidgey. "Pidgey, use Tackle." I said. It hit the Weedle, and it fainted. The NPC walked up to me and gave me some money, and he said, "Good job, you beat me." He ran off into the forest and we walked away. We eventually reached the end of the forest and we walked through the gateway. We walked out and saw that it was almost night time, so we set up camp and went to bed. I had no dreams that night and I woke up the next morning, and I didn't see Elliot in his sleeping bag. I didn't see Elliot's sleeping bag at all. I immediately stood up and started run around to try and find Elliot. I yelled for him, and Matt ran up and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Elliot's gone. And there's no trace of him."


	5. Chapter 5: Diglett Cave

We couldn't find Elliot anywhere. Matt and I split up, with Matt searching in the Viridian Forest, and I would search around on Route 2. I tried looking around for other trainers who had probably seen Elliot, but no one was on Route 2, except NPC trainers who I tried to avoid. But then I found something. I found a blue inhaler on the ground. I picked it up and looked at it, and I realized it was Elliot's. I looked around for more clues to where he went, but I couldn't find anything. I walked around a little more, but I found nothing else. I eventually went back to where our campsite was, and I met up with Matt.

"Did you find anything?" I asked.

"No, not a trace."

I showed him the inhaler and he asked, "Where did you find it? I think I can track him."

I lead him back to the place where I found the inhaler and he asked me to place it directly where I found it in the exact position. He kneeled down and looked around, and then he stood up and started walking away. "He's this way." He shouted back. I caught up with Matt and I asked, "How do you know where he is?"

"The inhaler was pointing this way. Whoever dropped it was walking this way based on its position."

"How'd you learn that?"

"I go hunting some times. But sometimes I don't, and I rely on facts from movies."

We kept walking and we stumbled upon something. There was a large area that had holes in the dirt and there was a large cave in front of the site. I pulled out my map and looked at Route 2. We were standing where the Diglett Cave was. "It all makes sense now." I muttered.

"What? What makes sense?" Matt asked.

"The Diglett took him. This is the cave they live in. Diglett are Pokémon that are known for digging holes, and this isn't an exception. It connects with a few cities around Kanto." I answered.

We walked into the cave and we started to look around. We walked through the cave for a few minutes and Matt found something. I ran over to where he was standing and he was holding a Pokédex. "This is Elliot's. I opened it and it said his name. I think if we keep walking forward, we should find him."

"Let's keep walking then." I said.

We walked forward and there was a small hole in the wall. It was too small for Matt, but I thought I could crawl through. I took out a water bottle, the Pokéball with Squirtle, and a flashlight, and I crawled through. I was shocked with what I saw. There were dozens of Diglett crowded around the body of Elliot, was still in his sleeping bag. I quietly walked down to the scene and I hid behind a rock. I noticed that the Diglett had brought all of Elliot's things and put them right next to him. I didn't know what to do, since Squirtle only knew Tackle, and not Water Gun, which was very effective against Diglett, I sat and watched what the Diglett were doing to Elliot. They all made a circle around him and they started to sing a song in their language. I figured that this situation was escalating, so I sent out Squirtle. The Diglett were distracted and I yelled, "Squirtle, distract them by using Tackle!" He started to rapidly hit the Diglett, while I ran over to Elliot. I started to shake him, but he didn't move. I felt his pulse, which was okay, and I yelled in his ear. He shot up and he started to wildly look around. "Where am I?" He asked

"We're in Diglett Cave. You were taken by some Diglett. Get your stuff, we're gonna have to leave soon."

I ran back over to Squirtle, and I saw a couple of Diglett that had fainted. This was good training for Squirtle. "Squirtle, use Water Gun!" I ordered. I thought since he had taken out a few of the Diglett, he would have leveled up, and he did. He started to spray the Diglett like a sprinkler and Elliot ran to where I was. He asked, "Can I catch one?"

I looked at the dozens of Diglett that were getting sprayed and I replied, "Do you wanna catch one by yourself?"

He nodded and I ordered Squirtle to stop attacking them. Elliot sent out his Bulbasaur and he shouted, "Bulbasaur, use Tackle on a Diglett!" The Bulbasaur hit one of the Diglett, and Elliot picked out a Pokéball from his backpack. He threw it at the Diglett and the Pokéball started to shake it. Once, then twice, then a third time. I heard the clicking noise and Elliot started to jump around with joy. "Alright Elliot, good job, now recall your Pokémon and let's go." I said, as the chaos started to escalate a little more. He quickly recalled Bulbasaur and picked up his Diglett, and we ran out of the cavern. We reached the small opening and Matt helped us out. We sprinted out of the cave and we saw dozens of Diglett come behind us. We made it back onto Route 2 and Matt asked, "What took so long? You were in there forever."

"The Diglett had taken Elliot and I had to save him. After I did, he caught one of the Diglett."

Matt patted Elliot on the back and Elliot grinned. We walked a little ways more, and I eventually saw a sign that pointed toward Pewter City, the first city with a Gym. We upped our pace and we reached the town at sunset. Luckily, there were no Team Rocket people anywhere in the city. We went inside of the Pokémon Center and we rested out Pokémon. We checked into a room at the Pokémon Center and we stayed there for the night. While I was reading something in the game guide, Matt asked, "How do you train your Pokémon?"

"You go out and battle wild Pokémon. You could also go back on Route 2 and the Viridian Forest and battle the NPC trainers."

He nodded and finally went to sleep. I was getting tired after reading the guide for a while, so I went to sleep. I started to dream again. I was in bed in what looked like a hospital. My eyes were blocked by a blindfold, but I could feel that the only thing I wore was my underwear and some shorts. I tried to feel around for something, but I heard a feminine voice say, "Stop, you need to rest." I relayed the voice in my mind and it sounded familiar. "Let's get those bandages off of you now." The voice said again. The bright light almost blinded me. I couldn't see for a few seconds and I could only see shapes a few seconds after that. When I could finally see, I looked over to see who was talking to me, and I almost choked. It was Brooklyn Myers. I opened my mouth to say something, but something woke me up. I heard a knocking on the door, and I got up to look through the peephole. It wasn't a Team Rocket Grunt, much to my relief, but it was Matt. I opened to door and smelled something foul, which was probably Matt's sweat. "Where've you been?" I drowsily asked.

"Training. I forgot something. I also needed some water." He walked inside and picked up some stuff. He walked past me and shut the door. I was very surprised to see Matt train his Pokémon, considering he didn't know how until a couple of hours ago. I climbed back in bed, hoping to pick up where I left off in my dream, and I feel asleep. I didn't have the same dream, but a different one with a Pikachu playing an Xbox. It was playing Rocket League, and it was crushing it's opponent. I woke up again, to Elliot shaking me. "Where can we eat breakfast?" He asked.

"I think they provide breakfast downstairs. Let's go." I replied.

We got ready, gathered up our things, and went downstairs to eat. We found a small table with some food laid out and we helped ourselves. I walked over to the NPC Nurse Joy and asked, "Is this food for guests?"

"Yes, it is for trainers." She said in a robotic voice.

I ate some toast with eggs, and Elliot ate cereal. We sat at a table next to a window that looked out towards Route 2 and I wondered where Matt was. When we finished eating we walked outside and Elliot asked, "What are we gonna do?"

"We could go ahead and do the Gym, but I think we should train some more. Plus, we have to find Matt."

We walked back onto Route 2, and we started to run around in the tall grass to attract Pokémon. We spent hours training up our Pokémon, but we didn't catch any. We didn't want to waste all of our Pokéballs on one specific Route. When we finished at sunset, we went back to the Pokémon Center to heal our Pokémon and to rest. When we rested our Pokémon we walked back upstairs and we walked into our room. Much to our surprise, Matt was sitting on his bed, reading the guide. "Matt, where have you been?" I asked.

"I was out training for a couple of hours and me and my Pokémon got tired. I actually figured out how to check their progress."

"You mean their level?" I asked.

"Yeah, that."

He showed us that if you opened your Pokédex and held it in front of your Pokémon it would reveal its moves and stats. I took out my Pokémon and my Pokédex. It said that Squirtle was at level fourteen and that Pidgey was at level fifteen. Elliot's Pokémon were both at level twelve and Matt's Pokémon were both level fifteen. After we went downstairs and ate dinner, Elliot and I took showers and we went to bed. The next day we woke up and we decided that we would go to the Pewter City Gym and fight Brock, the Gym Leader. We ate breakfast and walked outside, to find a Team Rocket truck parked next to the Pokémon Center. "We gotta go now." I ordered

"Did we get everything?" Matt asked.

"I checked the room before we left, I think we got everything." Elliot answered.

We followed road signs to where the Gym was, and we eventually stumbled upon it. "Okay guys, we can only go one at a time when fighting the Gym Leader. There's gonna be an NPC trainer inside so we can get familiar with Brock. So who should go first?"

Elliot and Matt were silent for a few seconds and I said, "I'll go first then. You guys can fight the NPC after me."

We walked inside to see that the Gym was decorated like a cave. The Pewter City Gym was run by Brock, who specialized in Rock type Pokémon. Since I had Squirtle, who was a Water type, this battle would be pretty easy. I started to walk towards the podium where Brock was standing, and a NPC trainer approached me. "Brock is really cool!" The NPC trainer shouted. He initiated battle by sending out a Diglett and I sent out Squirtle. I ordered, "Squirtle, use Water Gun!" He spat a shot of water at the Diglett, which made it immediately faint. The trainer sent out a Sandshrew and I ordered Squirtle to use Water Gun again. The Sandshrew hit the floor, and I won the battle. Since Squirtle was unharmed during the battle, I decided not to go back to the Pokémon Center to heal it. I walked up to Brock, and I remembered something very important. Squirtle knew Water Gun, Bubble, Tackle, and Withdraw and Pidgey knew Gust, Sand Attack, Quick Attack, and Tackle. I stepped up to the podium, and the battle began.

 **A/N: Merry Christmas you guys! I hope you and your families have a good one if you celebrate, and I hope you guys have had a good holiday season. Rogue One came out like last week and I've already seen it three times, and it was awesome. I hope you have a Merry Christmas, and remember to favorite, follow, and review!**


	6. Chapter 6: Badges and Phone Chargers

Brock was really energetic when I stepped up and he shouted, "I'm Brock! I'm Pewter's Gym Leader! I believe in rock hard defense and determination! That's why my Pokémon are Rock-Type!" I chuckled at the amount of cringe and the awful pun he had just made, and he asked, "Do you still want to challenge me? Fine then! Show me your best!" The battle started with him sending out Geodude and me sending out Squirtle. I ordered Squirtle to use Tackle, because I didn't want to demolish Brock because I felt bad for him, considering he had to lose to complete noobs and people who didn't have the faintest idea about Pokémon. Squirtle hit the Geodude, which took a little damage. Geodude hit back with Tackle, and Squirtle didn't lose much HP. Since I had lowered Geodude's HP a little, I decided I would go ahead and one shot it, so I used Water Gun. It didn't stand a chance. Geodude fainted, and Brock had an annoyed expression on his face and he sent out Onix, his trademark Pokémon. He used Bind on Squirtle, which took a lot of damage. Since I felt like Squirtle could do the job, I ordered it to use Water Gun. But Squirtle missed. I was shocked because Water Gun usually had 100% accuracy, but I knew what this meant. The game was trying the even the playing field. Onix used Tackle, which took a little more of Squirtle's HP, and Squirtle took more damage because of the Bind. I quickly grabbed my Pokédex, which measured its HP, and it said that Squirtle was barely still in the yellow zone. I was really nervous, so I told Squirtle to use Tackle. Onix took a little damage, but it retaliated by using Tackle. Squirtle was basically done for, and the Bind finished him off. I was extremely nervous now because all I had was Pidgey, who was very weak to Rock types like Onix. I reluctantly sent out Pidgey and I ordered it to use Quick Attack. It actually did a little more damage than Tackle, which helped out a lot. Onix used Tackle, which did some damage to Pidgey, and I wondered if I should use Sand Attack to bring down Onix's accuracy or if I should use Quick Attack to probably bring Onix's HP down to the yellow zone. Considering the fact that Onix could use Bind or Tackle again, I told Pidgey to use Sand Attack. Onix was hit with a pile of sand and it couldn't see for a few seconds. Brock ordered Onix to use Bind, and he went in for the kill. It missed, and I ordered Pidgey to use Quick Attack. It hit Onix, and it almost looked like a critical hit. I could tell Brock's Onix was on its knees, and it tried to use Tackle. It hit Pidgey, which only did a small amount of damage, and I decided to finish it with Tackle. Pidgey hit Onix, and it fainted. I had won the battle. I had won my first Gym Badge. The first thing I did was check my Pokédex to see if Pidgey had leveled up, but it was short by a couple of points. Brock quietly walked over to me and said, "Here have this," He handed me a floppy disc and informed, "That's TM34. It's Bide, which makes the opponent's Pokémon absorb damage in battle. You also have earned this," He handed me the Boulder Badge, which was just a simple plastic and grey rock and he said, "You should go to the Cerulean Gym and battle Misty. Thank you for battling me." He bowed and I bowed back, and I walked out. Matt and Elliot had already battled the NPC and Matt was up next at bat. Whenever I walked by him he asked, "Did you win?"

"Yeah, it wasn't a walk through the park though."

"Anything I should know?"

"Rock types are immune to Electric types, so your Pikachu won't do much good unless it knows Normal type moves, but they are extremely weak to Grass types, so your Bulbasaur should do pretty well."

"Wish me luck." He said with a little salute. I watched as he walked forward to Brock and I saw the battle begin. I knew I should heal my Pokémon at the Pokémon Center first, but I wanted to watch Matt battle. His Bulbasaur had taken out Geodude with Vine Whip, and he used Poison Powder to put extra damage on Onix. It only took him a matter of minutes to defeat Brock. He walked away with the TM and the Gym Badge and he asked, "What do I do with these?"

"Put the Badge in your case that's in your bag. The TM can also go in your bag."

Elliot tapped me on the shoulder and he asked, "What do I need to do?"

"The same applies for Bulbasaur and Diglett has an advantage over Rock types. You should be pretty good. Elliot's battle took a little bit longer than Matt's. He had used Diglett first against Geodude, which actually provided a little resistance against Diglett. Diglett was taken out by Onix's Bind, and he used Bulbasaur. He almost used the exact same moves as Matt, and he took out Onix. He walked back with the TM and the Gym Badge and we walked out. I noticed that my wallet felt a little bit heavier, and I looked inside. There were a few more coins in there and it was the same for Matt and Elliot. The first thing we did was go back to the Pokémon Center to rest our Pokémon and rest ourselves. We celebrated our victory by eating dinner at the Pokémon Center and we planned out our journey for Cerulean City. We would have to go through Route 3, Mount Moon, and Route 4, which would probably take a while. When Matt heard the word 'while' he groaned. I honestly thought I was having a little fun now in Pokémon Real. We had just gotten our first Gym Badges and we could probably get our second soon enough. Elliot asked me, "When are we gonna leave for Cerulean City?"

I looked at Matt and I asked him, "When do you think we should leave? I've been making all of the decisions, and I think you should make one now."

"I'm a little tired, and I think you would be because you're battle took forever. I think we should stay until tomorrow."

"Alright then, let's get a room and leave tomorrow morning."

We started to walk upstairs after we had checked into a room again and Elliot asked, "Do either of you guys have a guild I can join?"

I turned around and replied, "Yeah, we can add you if you want. How did you get out of Pallet Town without joining a guild?"

"I made one, but nobody joined. I tried to make friends when I did a few trips smuggling people through Viridian City, but everyone was kind of afraid of me."

That kind of shocked me. Who wouldn't wanna be friends with a kid who could drive a car and possibly smuggle drugs when he grew up? "Let's add him, Jake." Matt suggested. We walked back downstairs and I booted up the PC next to Nurse Joy's table. It gave me only three options, My PC, Bill's PC, and Guild PC. I tapped on the Guild PC and it asked me what guild I was in. I entered our name and my name and Matt's showed up. There was a green plus arrow below our names and I tapped on it. There was a bar that asked me to enter someone's name, and I asked Elliot, "What's your full name, Elliot?"

"Elliot Forrest Green. My middle name has to do with some guy named Forrest Gump or something like that."

Matt and I couldn't help but chuckle, and I entered Elliot's name. It showed his profile and I selected his profile to add. It asked me for a fingerprint, since I was technically the leader of the guild, and I used my right thumb. A bubble popped up and it said that Elliot had left his guild and had joined Clan Comedy. The PC printed out a laminated card with Elliot's information, and I handed it to him. "Welcome to Clan Comedy, kid." Matt said.

Elliot grabbed the card and put it in his pocket and we walked upstairs. When we reached the top, I saw a payphone out of the corner of my eye and I told Matt and Elliot to go onto the room and unpack. I ran to the phone and inserted five PokéCoins, and I entered Audrey's number. It rang for a few seconds, and I noticed that the Team Rocket truck from earlier that day wasn't in its parking spot. I couldn't even see it from out the window, which relieved me. "Hello? Who is this?" Audrey's voice said from across the phone.

"Audrey, it's Jake. Look, Matt and I are in Pewter City, where are you?"

"Jake, couldn't you have called at a better time? Me and Chris are… doing stuff."

I was silent for a few seconds and replied, "I'm not going to be nosy about what you where just doing, but where are you?"

"We're in Cerulean City, and Chris just finished battling the Gym Leader. He's actually taught me a lot about Pokémon."

"Wait, wh-" The phone stopped and a voice across the line told me I would have to insert another five coins. I threw the phone back at its stand and I walked away. Some random stranger was probably screwing my sister. I decided not to tell Matt, because I didn't want him to be depressed or anything, and I didn't want to say anything inappropriate in front of Elliot. I walked into our room and noticed that there were only two beds in this room instead of three. "I volunteered to sleep on the floor." Matt said before I asked about the situation. I looked at a clock on the wall and noticed that it was almost time for us to get in bed, so I decided to get into my sleep clothes. Elliot looked through his Pokédex a little before he went to bed and Matt read through the Pokémon Real handbook. I was sitting in bed, wondering if I could somehow charge my phone, and then it hit me. I could ask Matt to bring out his Pikachu and it could use an electric move while its tail was inside of the charger slot. I jumped out of bed and ran over to Matt's bag. I unzipped it before Matt came over to me and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I thought of an idea to charge our phones. Just let me borrow Pikachu."

"Sure, if it charges our phones, of course."

Matt released Pikachu from its Pokéball and I pulled out my phone from my bag. I carefully stuck Pikachu's tail inside of the charger slot, while Matt tried to restrain it from moving around too much. I told Matt, "Tell it to use ThunderShock."

Matt commanded his Pikachu to use the move, and it did while we were a safe distance away from it. My phone exploded. It didn't destroy it, but it started to dispense smoke after I heard a loud banging noise. Pikachu ran under my bed because it was frightened by the noise. "You got any gloves?" I asked Matt.

He nodded and handed me a pair of rubber gloves that he had in his backpack. I put them on and carefully grabbed my phone, trying not to shock myself in any way. It looked okay, so I tapped the home button, and it turned on. It had 100% percent power and I immediately entered the passcode to get into my phone. Nothing had been deleted and it looked like my phone had been charged like normal. "Let me try." Matt said.

He did the procedure and it charged up his phone too. Matt and I were silently overjoyed, as we didn't want to wake up Elliot again since he had been awoken by the loud banging noise. We had just charged our phones from a Pikachu. I wondered if we could bring it back to our world?

 **A/N School starts back ;( It'll probably have to be weekly updates again, but I'm trying my best. Christmas was good, I got a bunch of cool things and I'm happy 2016 ended. I'm a huge Star Wars fan, and I must give my condolences to Carrie Fisher's family as she recently passed away, and her mother who also passed away. Remember Favorite, Follow, and Review.**


	7. Chapter 7: The Chase

We woke up the next morning and decided there was nothing left for us in Pewter City. I tried to call Audrey multiple times, but she never called back. I had a bad feeling about how she was probably spending a little _too_ much time with Chris. When we reached Route 3, I looked back at the city. I noticed that there were Team Rocket trucks blocking the main roads, except Route 3. They were probably going to destroy Pewter next. I wondered what they had done to Viridian, or if they had done anything at all. I was just happy that we were safe now. We started to walk through Route 3 and I noticed that there were a lot of NPC trainers through the Route. I looked around for way around them, but it seemed if you went around one, another would pop up.

I also remembered the fact that all three of us would have to battle them. I remembered that there were roughly eight or nine trainers in Pokémon Red, but this game was different and it added about a dozen more. "Are we gonna have to battle all of them?" Matt asked.

"It looks like it. I wonder if there are any real trainers around here."

I looked around again to see if there were any other real trainers that were camping out, but I didn't see any. Our Pokémon had full HP and I figured that my Pokémon would need a little extra training considering how they did against Brock. "Let's battle them. We could use the training." I said.

I started battling a Lass, while Matt and Elliot battled other trainers. She sent out a Pidgey, and I sent out my Squirtle. She commanded her Pidgey to use Gust, but it didn't do much damage to Squirtle. I ordered Squirtle to use Water Gun, and the Pidgey took a critical hit. It fainted as soon as it felt the damage, and I checked Squirtle's level. It was level 15, and it needed to level up one more time for it to evolve to Wartortle. The Lass sent out another Pidgey and I kept Squirtle on. She ordered her Pidgey to use Sand Attack to throw off Squirtle's accuracy, and the attack hit Squirtle. I commanded Squirtle to retaliate by using Tackle.

It missed and the Pidgey used Gust. Squirtle took damage, and I told it to use Water Gun. It hit Pidgey and it took about a quarter of HP. Pidgey used Sand Attack again, and Squirtle missed its next attack. The Lass commanded her Pidgey to use Tackle, and it hit Squirtle square in the chest. It looked like a critical hit, and I ordered Squirtle to use Water Gun. The bullet of water hit the tiny bird Pokémon, which put it in the red zone. Pidgey used Sand Attack again to try and make it a longer battle, so I decided to have mercy and use Withdraw to try and raise Squirtle's defense. Pidgey used Sand Attack again and I used Tackle, which hit Pidgey, effecitively knocking it out. I checked to see how much more experience my Squirtle needed to evolve, and it was so close! I noticed that Matt and Elliot had already gotten through a few trainers and I heard Matt yell for me midway through my battle, so I ran over to where he had battled. He looked at me and asked, "Is it bad if I say that my Bulbasaur started to become all shiny and it started to change shape?"

"Good news Matt," I replied, "your Bulbasuar evolved to a Ivysaur."

Matt immediately grabbed his Pokédex and read the information about it. His Ivysaur looked like every other Ivysaur I had ever seen, with it looking like a larger Bulbasaur, but with piercing eyes and the bulb on its back starting to sprout into a beautiful flower. After looking at his Pokédex Matt asked, "What does this mean now?"

"Your Bulbasaur just changed a little and has become stronger. It'll evolve one more time eventually and it'll be really powerful then."

"When does Pikachu evolve?" He asked.

"You need something called a Thunder Stone to evolve it. I think you can get one in a city we pass by."

"Okay then."

Elliot tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "When do my Pokémon evolve?"

"Bulbasaur needs to level up a little bit more. Diglett will probably take a little more time though."

He nodded and he walked over to a different NPC to battle. Matt went off in a different direction to battle more, and I thought about something. Do we have to battle _all_ of the trainers? There would have to be some way to get around everyone. I had a bad feeling about what would happen if all of our Pokémon fainted. I read somewhere in the guide that you had five lives and you lost them if you fainted. I thought that would be considered hard for some, but come on, Nintendo probably knew the people who played their games and what they classified as hard and easy. I thought that the whole five lives thing was a scam, and we probably only had one or two. But then it hit me. I had my phone and there was Wi-Fi. They probably added it because the game's mechanics had a system that disabled all phones, which is what happened to my phone on one of the first days. They didn't expect someone to use a Pikachu to charge their phone or restart it. I could hack the server and disable the trainers on Route 3, or I could look up a cheat code on the Internet. I grabbed my phone from out of my pocket and I went to Game Freak's website. The problem was, it was all in Japanese. I knew some basic Japanese from an online video I watched and from some foreign students that I was friends with in elementary school. I translated the top of the main page and went to work.

I clicked on the tab for Pokémon and then the next tab for Pokémon Real. There were only a couple of tabs to click on from there, but one of them was exactly what I was looking for: the system preferences and system mechanics. I clicked the tab to open it, but it said I needed to log in as an employee or an admin to the website page. This would be easy. I entered the head of Game Freak's name, by using Google Translate of course, and I guessed a password. It worked. I was very shocked, considering I put Pikachu1996forever as the password. I opened up the mechanics to the game and scrolled down to a line of code titled, "/Route3Poké : Code2819003/" I tried to edit it, but it said I needed to use a computer that was owned by Game Freak to edit the game and I needed official approval from the head of Game Freak. I didn't get the last part though, because I had logged in as the head. I didn't have any other options. I would have to battle through this. But then I heard a loud explosion. I looked behind and saw dozens of barrels of smoke. I ran back to a high point where you could see Pewter City and I saw that Pewter City had almost been destroyed. Only two buildings remained: The Pokémon Center and the Pewter Gym. It didn't make sense that they kept the Pokémon Center. I looked around for Matt and Elliot but I couldn't see them. All of the NPC's had disappeared for some weird reason, but I still couldn't find Matt and Elliot. I called for them, but they didn't reply. I heard a noise nearby, so I jumped behind a bush and looked at where the noise was coming from. It was a group of Team Rocket trucks that where driving by and a platoon of grunts walking behind the trucks. I wondered why this was all happening. Why would they destroy these cities? I got why they destroyed Pallet, but why Pewter? It seemed almost irrational to destroy a city with a gym. I then wondered how many innocent people died in Pewter. Hopefully most of them had passed since we hadn't seen many on Route 2 or on Route 3. But then I realized something. The explosion had happened right after I tried to hack the server. Team Rocket's forces had invaded Viridian City after they had seen Elliot, and possibly other people, smuggling people in and out of the city. People had been obliterated at Pallet because they went against the games mechanics. The game was trying to keep everything in line with its agenda, but in the worst way. My eyes had finally opened. Team Rocket was basically the micromanager of Pokémon Real. It was kind of like the Lego Movie, but with more gore and less comedy. But that still didn't add up with where all of the NPCs had gone and where Matt and Elliot were. The NPCs were probably moved somewhere else because of the massacre that had just happened, but Matt and Elliot were still a grey area.

Then a Team Rocket Grunt walked over to the bush where I was standing and he took a number one right on top of me. I reasonably fell out of the bushes and he looked shocked. He zipped up his pants and grabbed my shirt, but I tried to resist. I kicked him in the crotch and I made my getaway. I heard him call for backup, and my running turned into sprinting. I got to the entrance of Mt. Moon, and I heard gunshots. I saw bullets fly into the side of the mountain and I tried to get into the cave as fast as I could. I kept running inside of the mountain and I hid behind a large boulder to see if they were coming for me. I heard footsteps, and I grabbed the Pokéball with Squirtle in it. I saw that four grunts had run into the cave where I was and tried to plan my escape without being caught. There was no escape though because I was highly outnumbered and the cave got darker as it went inside of the cave. I decided to wait and see if they would leave. After a few minutes of looking around rocks and boulders, they decided to split up. But what I didn't know is that one of them stayed behind and they started to chase me as soon as I started running farther into the cave. I kept running and running, until I fell off of a ledge. I landed on my arm, and it almost sounded like a crack came from it. I tried to get up, but the Team Rocket Grunt had caught up and they pushed me back onto the ground. It was pitch black and I could only hear their movements. I started swinging my arms around to hit the grunt. None of my hits hit them at all, and they tripped me. They began to kick me in the side and they pulled me up. I heard the grunt and it sounded feminine. She threw off my backpack and punched me square in the jaw. I fell back onto the ground. I heard her unzip my bag and I tried to move.

She turned around and pulled her leg back to kick me again, but I heard someone push her to the ground. I heard the person fighting her shout, "Jake, get up, we gotta go now!"

It sounded like Matt's voice and I tried to gather my things as fast as I could. I grabbed my phone and turned on the flashlight. This grunt obviously wasn't an NPC. She was real. The female grunt had blood all over her face from Matt punching her and her Team Rocket outfit was stained with it. Then I realized it was the same grunt that attacked us in Viridian City and the one in my dream. She was screaming, and I heard other people running towards us, so I shouted at Matt, "I got my stuff, let's get outta here!"

He got up, and I took a quick picture of the grunt to show Elliot and to study for any future encounters. We started to run away from the scene and I could hear people running from behind us. This would be some chase, especially since it was in the dark.

 **A/N Well, now you know Team Rocket's motivation in this game, which took me a while to compose, but it'll make more sense as the story progresses. Remember to Favorite, Follow, and Review.**


	8. Chapter 8: The Moon Stones

We kept running until I had to take a break. We were still pretty deep in the cave, but we had no idea where we were going. I sat down on a rock and took a swig of water from my water bottle.

"C'mon Jake, we gotta keep going." Matt ordered.

"Hold on Matt, I haven't done this much running since cross country. By the way, where's Elliot?"

"I don't know. We where in the middle of battling someone when they all disappeared and we heard Pewter City explode. Then I felt something sharp hit my neck, and I blacked out. It was probably a dart with something in it. I woke up with a blindfold and I was tied to a chair in the middle of a cave. Then I escaped. I wonder why they captured us."

"They probably knew you two had seen what had happened and they wanted to keep you quiet. I also think they didn't want us to level up our Pokémon too much to keep the game simple." I replied.

We heard running down the cavern, so I got up and we began to run again. I now got why they had kidnapped Matt and Elliot, the reason being what I explained to Matt. But I was still worried about Elliot. Would they hurt him like they hurt me? I also wondered if my arm was broken or not because of the cracking noise I kept hearing when I bended it. But then we eventually reached a dead to the cave and we couldn't turn around. "What are we gonna do?" Matt asked.

"We're gonna battle our way out." I replied.

I sent out my Squirtle to battle and Matt sent out his Pikachu. Two Team Rocket Grunts eventually reached our dead end and they started shouting things at us. This was gonna be a 2v2 battle. Then I remembered that 2v2 battles weren't in Pokémon Red and Blue, and that they were introduced in Generation III. I didn't know if 2v2 battles were in the game's mechanics or not, so I didn't know what to expect.

The first Grunt sent out a Zubat and the second sent out a Grimer. I told Squirtle to use Water Gun on Zubat, and Matt told his Pikachu to use ThunderShock on Grimer. They took a little damage, and they used Wing Attack and Pound. Neither of our Pokémon took much damage, and we ordered the same moves, but on the opposite Pokémon. Zubat immediately fainted, but Grimer was still standing. But then I saw something that shocked me. The Grunt that had the Zubat exploded into thousands of little particles. He was a real person. That's what happened when a real person lost a battle in the game. This game was brutal. Whoever made it was psychotic. But then something weird happened. The other Team Rocket Grunt started to pixelate and glitch out. He was shouting and trying to walk away, but then he started to shake and he fell on the ground. It was like he was having a glitchy seizure. His Pokémon was doing the same thing too, and for the first time, I was scared. I didn't know why or how this was happening and I was scared. Matt tried to pull me away so we could run, but I didn't move. I wanted to black out but I couldn't. I was in shock. I had never seen someone die because of me and the seizure that the Grunt was having was intense. He kept rolling into walls and he got stuck inside of one at one point. Matt kept trying to get me to move, but I fell onto my knees and I tried to return Squirtle. Then I snapped out of my shock and I stood up. "Let's go." I said.

We slowly walked away from the scene and we tried to find Elliot. If we heard anyone from Team Rocket, we hid behind rocks or we prepared for battle. I tried not to think about what had happened. I was different now for some reason. I knew that the Team Rocket Grunt was evil, but that didn't help the fact that he had died in the game. We kept on walking and Matt told me to stop.

"Why are we stopping?" I asked.

He pointed at a rock that was sticking out of a wall and he whispered, "We're close to where they took me and Elliot. I remember seeing that rock whenever I was running away. It might lead to something."

He pressed the rock to see if anything would happen, and it started to move into the wall. A slab of rock moved back to reveal a small door and Matt opened it. We looked inside and found about a dozen Team Rocket Grunts talking and sitting down. Then I noticed that there was a chair in the center of the room and Elliot was tied to it. He was wearing a blindfold and his face was bloodied and bruised. I clenched my fists and I started to position myself to run into the scene. Matt grabbed my shoulder and whispered, "We're outnumbered a dozen to two. We'd never make it. We need to distract them before we rescue Elliot."

"Any ideas?" I asked.

Matt scratched his chin for a moment and replied, "I can try and get a few to chase me and you can battle the rest of the Grunts."

"What if that doesn't work? What if they catch you?"

"They won't catch me. If all else fails, just untie Elliot and run."

I nodded and Matt slowly walked over to a rock behind a group of grunts. He reached for a Grunt's hat and he grabbed it. The Grunt immediately turned around and he shouted something to signal that we were back. Matt turned around and made a run for it while I tried to get closer to Elliot. It looked like half of the Grunts had gone off to chase Matt, but a few remained in the cave. I didn't know how I would do this. I had a few scenarios in my head. The first would be that I would use the one year of karate and the moves I had learned from Karate Kid on the Grunts if they tried to attack me when I was saving Elliot. The second scenario would be me distracting them by singing a random song to distract them and to stall until Matt came back because he would probably have better ideas. The final scenario would be me battling the Grunts. I decided to use scenario number two. I stood up, put on my backpack and played my playlist on my phone. The first song was Ironic, and I tried to sing without being afraid. I walked into the center of the cave and started to sing.

"An old man turned ninety-eight. He won the lottery, but died the next day." I awkwardly sang.

At that point, all of the Grunts were on the floor laughing at me and I continued.

"It's a black fly in your Chardonnay. It's a death row pardon two minutes too late. Isn't it ironic?"

My face was as red as a Republican elephant and I decided to sing a few more lyrics before I saved Elliot.

"It's like rain on your wedding day, it's a free ride that you've already paid."

Now was my chance because the Grunts were on the floor laughing at me. You could've compared my singing to the time they sang it on the Tonight Show. I ran over to where they were keeping Elliot and I untied him. His backpack was lying next to where he was sitting and I untied his blindfold. He looked like he was asleep and I tried to pick him up. He was heavy, considering I was carrying my backpack, his backpack, and Elliot. I tried walking a few steps, but then the Team Rocket Grunts stopped laughing. They loaded their guns and aimed at me. I then started to run, while trying to hold Elliot. I heard bullets hit the wall and I looked up to noticed giant stalactites that looked like they were about to fall because a few of the bullets had hit them. I had an idea.

I hid behind a rock and quickly took out Pidgey's Pokéball and sent it out. I ordered it to fly up and use Quick Attack on the stalactites to block the Grunts from chasing me. It flew up and hit them, and they began to fall. But then I noticed that the Grunts were chasing me. They were right under the impact point. I heard screams and shouts whenever the stalactites hit them and I tried to look away from the carnage. I picked up Elliot and gathered all of my things and I jogged away. I kept jogging and eventually Elliot woke up and he whispered, "W-What happened? I-Is…"

I immediately stopped and sat Elliot against a rock and I tried to wake him up. I couldn't get him to wake up or to move. I checked his pulse, but it was weak. What did they do to him? I had no idea what to do. He was breathing and he had a pulse, but I didn't know what to do from there. All I knew was first aid from a Life Skills class. I looked through my bag to see if I had any meds or something that could help, but there was nothing. Then I saw an Oran Berry in a pocket of my bag. It could work. If the Pecha Berry could, this definitely could. All it would do is help his body and I was sure he would be better because of the effects of the berry. I the berry in my palm and I placed it on his tongue. I moved his jaw up and down so he wouldn't choke on it and I made him swallow it. I grabbed my water bottle and gave him a swig, and then he started to spaz out. This time it wasn't as bad because Oran Berries weren't as strong as Pecha Berries in terms of use. I rolled him to his side in case he started to vomit and I watched his fit. He was twitching like crazy and I just sat there. I wanted to do more, but I didn't think I could do anything else. After a few more minutes he finally stopped and he woke up. "W-What happened?" He hoarsely asked.

"You were abused by Team Rocket. Do you remember what happened?"

"No, they had me blindfolded, but they hurt me. I tried to tell them to stop but they kept going." He put his head in his hands and he started to cry. I sat next to him and put my arm around him. No kid deserved this. Team Rocket did unspeakable things to him and it made me angry. I felt something I had never felt before. _Hate._ I had never felt pure hate towards something or someone, but I felt it now. Team Rocket almost killed an innocent eight-year-old boy and they needed to pay. They had killed innocent people when they destroyed Pallet and Pewter. I looked down at Elliot and noticed that he had bruises all of his face and he was bleeding in some places. We needed to get out of this cave now and we needed to get to Cerulean City. They had a Pokémon Center there and they could probably do something Elliot. Then I heard somebody running near us. I looked over the rock that hid Elliot and I and I couldn't see who was running. It was getting closer and I grabbed a rock that was next to me. It started to get very close, and I threw the rock at the source of the noise. I heard a voice in discomfort and I looked closer at the figure of the person. It was Matt. I ran over to him and helped him up and he pushed me as soon as he got up. "What was the freaking rock for?" He angrily asked.

"I thought you were Team Rocket. I got Elliot, let's get outta here."

Matt ran over to Elliot and he looked at him for a second. He picked him up, I gathered up our things, and we started to make our way out of the cave. After what seemed like a couple of hours of walking, but was only about half an hour, we finally found something that indicated that we were close. There were footprints that looked like they were my size and the site looked familiar. We continued to walk and Matt had to take a break. We sat down and I took a swig of water, but then I heard a cracking noise under my shoe. I lifted my foot and looked at whatever I had just destroyed. It was a small, dark stone that was smooth and looked like a crescent. It was a Moon Stone. I looked around to see if there were anymore intact, and there were dozens. "Matt," I said, "pick up one of these black rocks, we'll need some later."

"Why? We can just get black rocks from-" 

"Don't finish that sentence." I replied.

I picked up a couple of stones and Matt picked up some, and I got a few for Elliot. We gathered up our things again and we started walking again. After walking for a few more minutes, I finally saw light. I started running, while Matt was trying to carry Elliot and run at the same time. I reached the exit of the cave and I took a deep breath of fresh air. I looked down at myself and I looked down at myself. I was covered in dirt and blood, and so were Matt and Elliot. We had finally reached Route 4.

 **A/N Wow I haven't uploaded lately. The main reason is because I was sick and I felt terrible which prevented me from uploading last week and I've just not had enough time to write because of school and other stuff. Remember to favorite, follow, and review.**


	9. Chapter 9: Roasted Oran Berries

We sat down outside of the cave and we were quiet for a few minutes. Elliot had been through too much. Matt and I had no idea what to say. This kid was eight years old and he had problems behind the scenes. Matt finally broke the silence and asked, "How much farther until the next city?"

I answered, "It's not too far, maybe a mile or half a mile. But when we get their, we're gonna need to rest for a while. We're tired, our Pokémon might need a little more training, and I think my arm is broken from when I landed on it in the cave."

Matt pulled out his phone and turned it on. He opened the camera and took a picture of us. "What was that for?" I asked.

"When we get back home. If any time passes in the real world, we can show people pictures and stuff."

"I think no time passes while we're in here." I said.

Matt took a swig of water from his water bottle and I looked over at Elliot. He was looking at a flock of Pidgeys flying by and he looked like he was deep in thought. I got up and walked over to him and took a seat next to him.

"We're almost to Cerulean City. There's a gym there and a whole bunch of other stuff. We're all gonna need to train if we wanna beat Misty. She's the gym leader."

It looked like he almost ignored me and he kept looking at the sky. I patted him on the back and walked back over to Matt.

"Is he alright?" He asked.

"I'm not a doctor or anything, but I think he's in shock from what they did to him. But what would they ask him?"

"They might wanna know who he is, why he's here, all that stuff, and he probably didn't answer and they got hostile." Matt said.

"Team Rocket has to have some mercy." I said.

"He might have a concussion. I kind of acted the same way he did after my concussion I got in football."

"Matt, he's completely different than you. You sometimes act like that when you're normal. But I'll go check on him."

I got up and tapped Elliot on the shoulder and he turned around. "I'm gonna check to see if you have a concussion. Just answer a few questions I have."

He nodded and I asked, "Do you feel confused in any way? Like if you feel dizzy or anything?"

He slowly nodded and I asked, "Do you have a headache and are your ears ringing?"

He nodded again and I asked, "Who won the 2016 Presidential Election?"

He paused for a few seconds and replied in a very slurred voice, "D-Donald… Trump-p."

I knew he had a concussion based off of these symptoms. I knew that a concussion was the result because when I had taken the small Life Skills first aid class, they had told me about concussions. It didn't look severe, but it didn't look small. I turned to Matt and asked, "Do you have a baggie and some ice?"

He looked at me like I was stupid and replied, "Of course Jake, especially when we just came out of a cave and we're in the wild."

"Well thanks for clarifying." I replied.

Since we didn't have anything to treat Elliot, I decided we would set up camp and let Elliot rest a little before we set off. Matt started the fire and I got out the sleeping bags. But there was one problem. We had almost no food. Other than a few granola bars and three bottles of water, we had nothing. I looked around to see if there were any trees with apples or any other fruit, but I didn't see anything. Cerulean City was a mile and I couldn't get there before dark. "I'm gonna go try and find some food. Matt, watch Elliot and make sure nothing weird happens."

Matt nodded and I walked away. I looked around for a little while and it looked like there wasn't anything. But then I saw a small apple tree that was full of apples. I ran over to it and picked an apple to eat. I opened my jaw and I bit into it. But there was one problem though. My mouth went right through the apple and I threw it on the ground. It wasn't even a real apple. It was just a decoration. The Oran Berries and the other berries were needed in game and they were necessary, but an apple wasn't needed because it just made the wild look pretty. I walked away very frustrated as I realized that we wouldn't be able to get food out here. I still wondered why the game mechanics made us feel hunger. I walked back to camp and Matt asked, "Did you find anything?"

"No, we can't find real food in the game. I think we can only things. Unless…"

"Unless what?" He nervously asked.

"We could try and eat Oran Berries. If we cooked them, of course. Maybe the weird things that Pokémon eat would go away."

"It's worth a shot." Matt replied.

He went to grab one from his bag and I slapped his hand. "What was that for?" He asked.

"Let's use the ones in our bag for our Pokémon. I'll go look for some."

"No, let me," Matt said, "You tried looking for food and you didn't find anything. Plus, I'm bored."

I handed him a flashlight and said, "Be back before dark. Don't get lost."

"Relax, I'll be fine."

He walked away into the forest and I took a swig of water from my water bottle. I looked over at Elliot who was lying down on the grass. I wanted him to have some time to himself, so I left him alone. I looked inside of my backpack to see if there was anything I could do to pass the time, and I saw my Pokéballs. I pulled the two of them out and I looked closely at them. It had always been my dream to be a Pokémon trainer, and now that dream was a reality. I had no idea if my Pokémon had real feelings towards me and I had no idea if they even knew what was going on. They were probably just lines of code doing what they were programed. I took the Pokémon out of their Pokéballs and I looked at them for a few seconds. Their faces were expressionless. I put them back into their Pokéballs and I put them back into my bag. This wasn't like the anime or how the games portrayed the friendship between trainer and Pokémon. This was all just to make someone laugh because people were dying. Sadistic. That's all I could think of.

I grabbed my fine from the front of my backpack and checked to see if I had gotten calls from Audrey or anyone. No calls. I tried to call her, but she never replied. She was probably doing "things" with Chris. I didn't like Chris for a multitude of reasons. A lot of them had to do with him being with my sister. My sister and me had a sibling rivalry, but we still loved each other. I opened my phone and took pictures of Elliot, a selfie of me, a tree, and the sun. I was bored and I had nothing else to do. I decided to be productive and try to keep the fire going. I walked over to the small fire and I started to poke the two tiny logs Matt had gotten. I looked around to see if there was any wood or something that could burn, and I picked up a few sticks, large and small.

The fire started to grow a little bit and it seemed perfect to make s'mores or to cook sausages. I heard a rustle in the bushes and I had my hand on my Pokéball with Squirtle in it. Matt came out of the bush and he had a huge pile of Oran Berries in his arms. "Where'd you find those?" I asked.

"There was a huge tree full of 'em. I tried picking a few, but then a whole bunch just started falling on top of me. There was some sort of Pokémon throwing them on me."

I chuckled, and grabbed a few Oran Berries. I stuck three onto a stick and I put them over the fire. Matt did the same and he looked over at Elliot who was still sitting in the grass, looking at the sunset. "Hey Elliot, wanna come roast some of these berries?"

He looked back at us and smiled. He got up and slowly walked over to us and picked up a stick. He stuck a berry on it and I said, "You can roast more if you want. We have a whole pile of them." He grabbed a few more and stuck them on his stick and we started to roast them over the fire. "Anybody know any good campfire songs?" I asked.

"The Campfire Song from SpongeBob." Elliot recommended.

Matt and I laughed and Matt started singing. "C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E S-O-N-G song." I started to sing along and we all sang, "And if you don't think that we can sing it faster then you're wrong, but it'll help if you sing along." Elliot started dying with laughter and tried to say, "Bom, bom, bom…" We kept singing the song for the next few minutes until the berries were ready and they looked almost like roasted marshmallows. Their blue color had turned a little bit brown, and they smelled a little smoky. "Who wants to try them first?" I asked.

Matt took one off of his stick and said, "I've watched a lot of Man vs. Food and that's what I want my job to be. I'll do it." He stuck it in his mouth and he started chewing. He didn't show any reaction for a few seconds and then he swallowed. "It tastes like magic. Its texture is weird though."

I put one in my mouth and I started chewing on it. Its texture was almost like an apple, but softer and easier to chew. It tasted like a raspberry and an apple mixed together with a hint of a smoky flavor. The fire probably did something to stop the reaction thing. I wasn't a science person and I didn't care. These berries were good and we feasted on them. We ate one after another after another and we talked throughout the whole night. We sang some more songs and laughed a lot. We were having fun again. I checked my phone to see what time it was, because our phones had set to the time zone in game, and it said it was almost midnight. We still had a couple of berries, and we decided we could keep those for later. The three of us got into our sleeping bags and we fell asleep. I started to dream again.

I was riding my bike on an empty road in a field and there was nobody in sight. I looked up and saw a Charizard fly right over my head and I saw Audrey flying it. Only she looked like Khaleesi from Game of Thrones, but with brown hair. I was very confused and I tried to ignore it. She kept circling around me and then I saw Matt riding a huge Pikachu right next to me. He was eating an Oran Berry and he was trying to talk to me. But then my bike tire hit a rock. I fell off of my bike and I hit the dirt. I woke up and Matt was shaking me. His mouth was moving but my ears kept ringing. He started hitting me in the shoulder and I tried to make out his words. The ringing started to become quieter and I began to hear him. He physically pulled me up and he put my backpack on my back. "Run!" He shouted. I started hearing gunfire and I started running faster. Where was Elliot? What was happening? Was this Team Rocket? Then I felt a pain in my right wrist and I tripped. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Matt picking me up.

 **A/N I keep saying I'll update regularly, but I keep not doing that. Sorry, I just have a lot of stuff and lots of other stuff has been happening to me lately. I probably won't be updating by next week because I'll be going on a trip with some friends during the week and I won't be able to write. Remember to favorite, follow, and review.**


	10. Chapter 10: Wartortle

I woke up inside of a log. I tried to get up and see more of my surroundings, but I felt a shooting pain in my wrist. I fell back onto the wooden surface of the log and I tried to get into a comfortable position. I looked around to see if I could see Matt or Elliot, but I didn't see them. I moved my left hand over to see if I could find my backpack or anything else, and I felt a backpack strap. I immediately opened it and I ripped my phone out from the bottom of the bag. I looked through a small hole that was right above my face. It was in the late afternoon and I could see a few trees. I put the password in my phone and I tried to call Matt. He didn't answer. I called Audrey. No answer. I had no idea what to do. I tried to whisper out for Matt or Elliot, but nobody replied. I didn't wanna get out of the log because somebody could start shooting me again. I looked down at my right wrist, which was the one that was injured, and it was cut very badly. It looked like it had almost been a direct hit, but me tripping had made it miss by mere centimeters. It hurt even worse though because of how I hurt it when I was in the cave. This wasn't a good injury, not that there were ever any good ones. They probably didn't have any legitimate hospitals in the game and the closest thing would probably be the Pokémon Center. I tried to look through my bag for bandages or something that would help my injury, but it was hard because my dominant hand was hurt.

Suddenly, I heard voices, and they weren't familiar. "Find the kid, and kill him." I heard a feminine voice say. It was that voice. The woman I had beat up in the cave. The one who was in my dream. I tried to stay as quiet as possible and I tried not to move. My heart started to beat faster and I tried not to breath through my mouth. The footsteps started to get closer and I held my breath. I was done for. I couldn't move and I couldn't battle. I looked through the hole at the end of the log to see if I could see anything. There was a pair of feet that were wearing boots standing right next to the log. I slowly tried to crawl out of the other end of the log, and I made a twig snap. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I was done for sure this time. But they didn't look. It was like they didn't hear it. "Did you hear something?" One of them asked.

"No, probably just a bird or something." The woman replied.

I decided to keep hiding in the log until they left. They didn't leave for another ten minutes, and I waited an extra five in case they came back or if something else happened. I tried to crawl out of the log again, making a twig or two snap, and I stood up. I looked around very quickly and I didn't see anyone. I put on my backpack and I looked back into the log to see if I had forgotten anything. I made sure to rearrange any rocks or something that would've made it look like I was there. I started walking through the woods to see if I could find anyone or anything. I didn't want to call out for anyone because the Team Rocket people could've still been out there. For safety, I took out the Pokéball with Squirtle and released him from his ball. I only did it just in case someone came up to me and wanted to battle. There were pros and cons about being alone in the forest. A pro was I could think about many things, including strategies for getting out of the game. A con was I didn't have anyone to talk to and I felt a little uncomfortable because I felt like people were watching me. I kept looking around to see if there was anyone hiding in a bush or something. I had walked for about twenty minutes and I sat down on a patch of grass. I took out my phone and tried to call Matt. Still no answer. Then I tried to call Audrey. Just a voicemail. I looked over at my Squirtle and it smiled at me. I took an Oran berry out of my bag and I handed it to the Squirtle. I grinned even more and happily ate the berry.

Suddenly, I heard a rustle in the bushes. I grabbed my backpack and slowly zipped it up. I had my hand on Squirtle's Pokéball, just in case I needed to take him back up and make a run for it. I heard a gunshot rip through the air and I saw a blast mark in a tree right next to me. I put Squirtle back in its ball and I started sprinting. My arm still hurt, which didn't help at all, but I kept running. I could hear shouts behind me. I didn't know where to go. I kept running, but I felt the ground stop. I looked down and noticed that my feet were hanging off of a cliff. I almost fainted because I had a fear of heights. A Team Rocket Grunt ran up to me and said, "Alright kid, your time's up." He held up his gun and I yelled, "Wait! Let's battle. If you win, shoot me, but if I win, you leave."

I then remembered what happened if I beat a real person, and this guy looked very real to me. He chuckled and sent out a Zubat. I sent out Squirtle and the battle began.

"Go Squirtle, use Water Gun!" I ordered. Squirtle hit the Zubat with a jet of water and it looked like it had taken a little damage. "Zubat, use Bite!" The Grunt ordered.

The Zubat bit Squirtle in the neck and Squirtle flinched. Zubat used Bite again, and it looked like Squirtle was almost in the yellow zone. "Squirtle, use Bubble!" Squirtle shot a string of bubbles at the Zubat, putting it in a critical condition. "Zubat, use Wing Attack!" The Grunt told the bat Pokémon. Zubat slapped Squirtle with his wing, and I ordered Squirtle to finish it off with Tackle. The Zubat fainted, but the Grunt didn't spaz out. Instead, he sent out a Grimer and it looked tough. Since Squirtle was almost out of HP, I recalled it and sent out Pidgey. The Grunt ordered the Grimer to use Sludge, and it shot a giant ball of a mixture of slimy, gross dirt and among other things. It hit Pidgey, and I ordered it to use Gust. The Grimer was forced inside of a tornado of dirt and wind and it took off a reasonable amount of HP. The Grimer used Disable, which meant Pidgey couldn't use Gust again.

"Pidgey, use Quick Attack!" I commanded. Pidgey hit Grimer with an attack that was quick and powerful. The Grimer looked very weak, and the Grunt told it to use Pound. The Grimer hit Pidgey with its massive purple hands, which put Pidgey in a weak position. This battle was exciting me because I was sure that Squirtle would evolve at the end and turn into Wartortle. I ordered Pidgey to use Quick Attack again, and the Grimer fainted. I recalled Pidgey and closed my eyes. I didn't want to see the Grunt die. I could hear the noises of him screaming and the pixelated noise. He screamed one last time and he burst into a collection of pixels. I opened my eyes and looked to see if there were any other Grunts with him. They all had run away because they didn't want to battle. I collected my things and put them in my bag. But then Squirtle's Pokéball started to vibrate and I took it out of my bag. It jumped out of my hand and Squirtle came out. He smiled at me one last time and then he started to change. He became a white silhouette and his body started to change. He grew in stature and he grew some feathery things on his temples. His tail became larger and bushier. The process stopped and his evolution was complete. He had become a darker shade of blue and his eyes had become larger. He looked up at me and smiled. He gave what looked like a thumbs up and a message appeared over his head. It said, "Congratulations, your Squirtle evolved into a Wartortle!" I smiled and I put Wartortle back in his Pokémon. I began to walk away from the cliff, careful to look out for any Team Rocket Grunts. I didn't have any idea where to go, so I pulled out my phone to see if the compass app would work. It didn't, probably because the game world didn't have a magnetic pull or something like the real world. I tried to call Matt for the third time and I waited. He answered and said, "Hello? Who is this?"

"Matt! It's Jake, where are you?"

"I'm outside of Cerulean City. We just passed some Team Rocket Grunts and I'm trying to plan a way to get around them. Where are you?"

"I don't know. I just battled a Grunt and I think I'm lost. Do you know where Elliot is?"

"He's with me right now. Sorry I had to leave you behind, you fainted and I had to carry you for a little while. I was gonna come back for you, but things got complicated."

"How can I find you?" I asked.

"Um…" He paused for a minute and replied, "There's a small pond near where we are. If you can look for it or a source of water, follow it."

"Got it…" I thought about Audrey and asked, "Has Audrey called you at all? I've called her a couple of times and she hasn't answered."

"Nope, I just got my phone out of my backpack and saw that you tried to call me."

"I'll try and find you," I said, "See ya soon."

I hung up and I set out on a new mission. I picked up the pace a little and I kept my eyes open for a source of water. After walking around for thirty minutes, I saw a small stream, and I sprinted over to it. My water bottle was almost empty and I started gulping water from the stream down my throat. After drinking plenty of water, I started jogging by the stream, hoping to find the source. After jogging for a little while, I found the pond and I started wildly turning my head, looking for Matt and Elliot. I saw a movement near a bush about twenty yards away from me, and I looked closer at it. It was a hand motioning for me to come closer. I quietly ran over to the bush and I saw that Matt and Elliot were sitting down, watching Team Rocket. I tapped Matt on the shoulder and he looked up at me. I helped him up and he gave me a giant bear hug. Not expecting this, I patted him on the back and replied, "It's good to see you too. Let's get outta here."

He nodded and I helped Elliot up. He smiled and I patted him on the back. We slowly walked back onto Route 4 and we checked to see if the coast was clear. Matt gave a signal saying it was, and we started sprinting. My arm started to hurt again, but I tried to ignore it. I could see the city from where we were running, and I tried to go faster. I looked behind to see if Matt and Elliot were behind me, and they were a little ways back. I stopped and I fell onto the ground. I was exhausted. I looked up at a sign in front of me and I tried to read it. It said, "Welcome to Cerulean City, the Floral Lagoon City." I had a huge grin on my face, and I felt Matt shaking me. "You alright?" He asked.

"Yeah," I answered hoarsely, "we made it."

 **A/N The trip I had was fun. I got to kiss a dolphin and I got to do other fun stuff. I hope you liked the chapter and remember to favorite, follow, and review.**


	11. Chapter 11: Cerulean City

Matt helped me up and I looked at the Cerulean City sign. I wanted to go over and hug it, but that would've been weird. I looked to my left and saw the medium sized city. A river ran through it and a few bridges went over the river. I looked a little bit more over to the left and saw the entrance to Cerulean Cave. That's where you would catch Mewtwo later in the game. But we wouldn't do that for a while. Not until we figured out more about the game. "So what do we do now?" Elliot asked.

"Let's go to the Pokémon Center and get some rest. With all that we've been through over the past few days, I think we deserve it." We started to walk into the city and we watched NPCs walk by us. They were very robotic, but what else could you expect. I tried to look around for any real people, but it didn't look like there were many, if not any. I remembered that Audrey had told me she and Chris were in Cerulean City, but that was days ago and they probably had already moved on. I cringed when I remembered our last conversation on the phone. I put my hand in my pocket to try and call her, but Matt tapped me on the shoulder. "I think we're here." I looked to my right and saw a building that was red and white and had a giant Pokéball above the door. We walked in very quickly and we all had a sigh of relief. The three of us trudged over to the counter where Nurse Joy was and she asked the exact same message every Nurse Joy asked. I didn't wanna listen to it for the millionth time, so I looked around at the Pokémon Center. I noticed that there was a pool outside, probably because it was Cerulean City, a city with a Water type gym, and because people liked pools. I was the last one to hand my Pokéballs over because I wanted Matt and Elliot to go ahead and get to a room. After a few seconds, Nurse Joy handed me my two Pokéballs and I jogged upstairs to our room. Matt was looking at something on his phone, but I couldn't find Elliot. "Where's Elliot?"

"He's taking a shower. You should too Jake, you smell a little bit weird." He joked.

I rolled my eyes and threw a pillow at him. "You can take the next shower after him. I wanna try and call Audrey again."

Matt grinned at her name and I had a flashback to when he started liking her. She was in 5th Grade, he was in 4th grade, and I was in 3rd grade. He started liking her at recess whenever she tripped on a rock and he helped her up. Not knowing each other, Audrey looked at him for a second and ran away. I was sitting on the playground and I watched the whole thing. That's when Matt came over and sat next to me and I told him I was her brother. After sharing some of my Animal Crackers with him, we became friends and we had been that way ever since. I kept thinking about elementary school, especially whenever I would play with my Pokémon cards with other kids and I would always won. That's where I got the majority of my cards. Then they eventually banned the game during recess because they said, "it resembled gambling too much and certain people were offended by evolution." I thought it was stupid, and I would secretly battle people anyway. Matt threw the pillow back at me after a few minutes and he said, "Elliot's done with his shower, I'm gonna go take mine now." Elliot came out of the bathroom and Matt switched places with him. Elliot immediately laid down on a bed and he dozed off. He must've been really tired. I picked up my phone out of my pocket and I tried to call Audrey. She didn't reply. At this point I was sure she had deleted my contact. I got up to go use the bathroom in the hallway, and then my phone started buzzing. I looked to see if it was somebody trying to call me, and it was Audrey. I grabbed my phone and pressed the little green phone icon to answer. "Hello, Audrey are you there?" I worriedly asked.

"Yeah Jake, I haven't looked at my phone in a little while and I just noticed all of your messages."

That seemed like a first, Audrey being off her phone.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"We're on some Route. I don't know specifically, but Chris may know. How are you? Are you alright?"

I lied. "Yeah, I'm fine. Me, Matt, and another kid we met are in Cerulean City. We should meet up soon."

"Yeah, I'd like that. Me and Chris have had a load of fun on our journey. Have you and Matt had fun?"

"You could say that." I said, trying not to make her worried, even though she never was. She did seem different though. She was never this worried about me and she seemed a little bit more positive. "I just asked Chris where we are," Audrey informed, "we're on Route 6. He says we can stay in Vermillion City for a little bit longer to wait for you if you want. Maybe we can beat this game together."

Something really did seem wrong. My sister wouldn't voluntarily do something with me. Especially spend time with me for an extended amount of time. "Audrey," I asked, "what have you an Chris exactly been doing?"

"Oh…" She paused for a second, "He's taught me a lot about Pokémon and we've gotten to know each other a lot."

 _I bet you have,_ I thought. "You seem different," I said, being direct and not passive aggressive, "has Chris made you more happy or something?" 

"I just feel different, like I could climb a mountain or something." She replied.

Thinking that this conversation was getting a little fishy, I said, "Well, I've gotta go now, tell Chris I say hey and maybe we can talk about our Pokémon later. See you later."

"Oh yeah, tell Matt I say hey and let's try and talk later. Bye." She hung up and I was even more suspicious. Chris had to be having some effect on her. Me and Audrey usually didn't like each other, but I was concerned because some stranger was doing things to my sister. It was my new goal to find them and find out what they were doing behind the scenes. I took the thought of her off my mind and took an extra change of clothes out of my backpack for my shower. I heard Matt turn the water off and it took him a few minutes to finally come out. I took my toothbrush and a bar of soap into the bathroom and I took my shower. While I was taking it, I had an interesting thought about the game. Were people still coming into the game? If so, where were they coming in? I tried coming up with feasible theories, but they had their flaws. I brushed my teeth for the first time in a couple of days, and I stepped out of the bathroom. We were all pretty tired, so I put away my things and I got into bed. Then I started to have another dream. I was sitting on a raft in the middle of the ocean and I saw something circling me in the water. I wondered what it was, but I was too scared to look over. Then it jumped out of the ocean and it splashed me when it dived back in. I looked closer and realized that it was Elliot, who was riding a Magikarp. I was very confused by this, and I wondered what this dream was supposed to mean. Then I woke up. The dream was brief, but then it made me think about something. I had just had a dream with Audrey in it and we had just talked to each other for the first time in a while. Something might happen to Elliot. I tried to think more, but then Matt asked me from across the room, "Are we gonna battle the Gym Leader today?"

"Sure, if you guys are okay with it." I replied.

"Do you think our Pokémon will be strong enough?" Elliot asked.

I stood up and said, "Yeah, they should be fine. Matt has Pikachu, which should do well against Water types, and he also has Ivysaur. I have Wartortle, which will do okay against Water types, but I also have Pidgey, who doesn't have a type advantage. You have Bulbasaur, who has an advantage, and you have Diglett. I think we'll all be okay. Now, what are the levels of your Pokémon?"

"Both of my Pokémon are level 17. I had to battle a couple of times on the Route and it gave my Pokémon some more experience." Matt replied.

"I think my Pokémon are both level 15. I helped Matt battle a little." Elliot said.

I remembered that my Wartortle had just evolved, so I checked to see what level it was. It was level 16 since it had just evolved and I also saw that Pidgey was level 17. We gathered up out things, cleaned the room, and walked downstairs to get some breakfast. We ate really quickly because we were anxious to get this battle over with. We started walking towards the gym, and I noticed something. I saw a building that said, 'The Cerulean Bike Shop. Bikes on sale now for only 1,000,000 PokéDollars!' I shook my head as I remembered it was impossible to get a bike for that price because of the games system. You could only get a bike from getting a bike voucher, which you could find in Vermillion City. We eventually reached the gym and we walked inside. It looked like a giant Olympic swimming pool, with a giant platform at the back of the gym, where I could see Misty. I remembered Misty in the anime, and I cringed. I always thought the anime was okay, but it started to decline whenever they started the Black and White series. That's really when I stopped watching it. I saw that there were two trainers in front of Misty who would challenge you, and I sighed. I wanted to get this gym battle over with. I thought to myself, _Beggars can't be choosers._ I walked over a small bridge towards Misty, and a swimmer swam up to me and said, "I've been swimming with my Pokémon all day. Let's battle!" He sent out a Horsea and I sent out Wartortle. I ordered Wartortle to use Bubble on Horsea, and a string of bubbles hit the small Pokémon that looked like a baby seahorse. The swimmer retaliated by ordering his Horsea to use Leer. It gave a menacing stare at Wartortle, which lowered its defense. I was cautious now because a critical hit might've taken out Wartortle. I commanded Wartortle to use Tackle, and it hit the Horsea square in the chest. I could tell that the Horsea was weak now, but it used Leer again. I was confused by the logic of the swimmer, but I used Tackle again to finish the Horsea off. Then he sent out a Shellder and he ordered it to use Supersonic.

It hit Wartortle with a beam of purple light and it made Wartortle confused. I could see little ducks floating around Wartortles head and he started to move around very loose, looking like a drunk person. "Come on, snap out of it!" I yelled. Wartortle hurt itself in its confusion, and it took more than usual because of its defense being lowered. I ordered it to use Water Gun, but it hurt itself again. I finally got what the swimmers logic was for using Leer. It was going to lower the defense so Shellder could take it out. I immediately recalled Wartortle. I sent out Pidgey and told it to use Quick Attack. It hit Shellder with a very speedy attack, hence the name Quick Attack. I could tell it was a critical hit, as the Shellder looked like it was in the yellow zone. The swimmer ordered Shellder to use Supersonic again, but it missed! I told Pidgey to use Quick Attack again, and the Shellder fainted. I had a big grin on my face, as I was happy to win the battle. The swimmer gave me some coins and he swam away.

I didn't know whether to go back to the Pokémon Center to heal Wartortle, but I decided he would be fine and I walked farther along the bridge. But then another trainer came up to me and challenged me to a battle. She sent out her Goldeen and I sent out Pidgey. I quickly looked to see how close Pidgey was to evolving and I calculated that if I won this battle and the battle against Misty, Pidgey would evolve into Pidgeotto. She ordered her Goldeen to use Horn Attack. It hit Pidgey with its massive horn, and Pidgey took a little bit of damage. I ordered Pidgey to use Quick Attack and it hit Goldeen. Then the Goldeen used Water Pulse and it hit Pidgey with a blast of water. I could tell Pidgey was becoming weaker, but that didn't stop me from keeping it in the battle. I ordered it to use Gust. Pidgey formed a small wind of water around Goldeen and it took a small amount of damage. Goldeen used Peck and pecked it with its horn. I could tell Pidgey was in the red zone, but I had an idea. If I used Quick Attack and if it was a critical hit, it could probably end the battle. I took the risk and ordered Pidgey to use Quick Attack. It hit the Goldeen with the move and it fainted. My plan worked. The trainer gave me a few coins and I decided it was best to go back to the Pokémon Center and heal my Pokémon. I walked past Matt and Elliot who had just finished battling the swimmer and I said, "I'm going back to heal my Pokémon. I'll be back in a couple of minutes."

They both nodded and I started to head back to the Pokémon Center.


	12. Chapter 12: The Earthquake

Nurse Joy handed me back my Pokéballs and I jogged back to the Cerulean Gym. I remembered that Wartortle was level 16 and knew Bubble, Tackle, Water Gun, and Withdraw. Pidgey on the other hand was level 17 and knew Gust, Quick Attack, Whirlwind, and Sand Attack. I felt like I was ready for this battle. As soon as I reached the door to the Gym, Matt and Elliot walked back out.

"You two need to back to the Pokémon Center?" I asked

"Yeah, we were close to losing. I thought you said this would be an easier gym for us." Matt replied.

I thought to myself, _Maybe they didn't use their Pokémon the way I would've used them. They still won though, and that's all that matters._

"You might do better when you battle Misty." I said.

I watched Matt and Elliot walk away and I stepped back into the Gym. I walked across the bridge that led to Misty's podium and I stepped up to challenge her. She was wearing a white one-piece swimsuit and a white jacket and she had short auburn hair that went down to about her shoulders. She looked at me and said, "Hi, you're a new face! Trainers who want to turn pro have to have a policy about Pokémon! What is your approach when you catch Pokémon? My policy is an all-out offensive with Water type Pokémon!"

Suddenly some lights started to flash and I was directed toward a small podium where I would stand. I looked below and saw a huge Olympic sized swimming pool, only larger and designed for Water types. Misty stood on the opposite side of the pool and sent out her first Pokémon, Staryu. I sent out Wartortle. Knowing that Staryu was partially resistant to Water type moves, I ordered Wartortle to use Withdraw. Misty commanded Staryu to use Water Gun and it shot a beam of water at Wartortle. Wartortle tried to dodge, but couldn't. Luckily, since I used Withdraw, Wartortle didn't take as much damage. I ordered Wartortle to use Withdraw again. My strategy would be to produce a high defense for Wartortle, making Staryu's attacks useless. Staryu then used Tackle, but it only did a little damage to Wartortle. For a third time I told Wartortle to use Withdraw. That would be the last time I would use it before I went onto the offensive. Staryu used Tackle again, doing even less damage, but putting Wartortle to about half HP. I ordered Wartortle to use Tackle, and it hit Staryu with all of its might. It looked like a critical hit and it took a lot of HP off of Staryu. Staryu replied by using Water Gun again, not doing as much damage as it did the first time. I told Wartortle to use Tackle, as that was all it could do, and it did so. I was getting nervous, though. Wartortle didn't have much HP left and Tackle wouldn't do much against Misty's next Pokémon. Staryu used Water Gun again, and I could tell Wartortle was very weak now. The only option was to keep on using Tackle, so I ordered Wartortle to use Tackle again. I held my breath as Wartortle used the move, but Staryu was still standing. I could tell it was weak, based on the noises it was making. I knew Wartortle was done for. Misty ordered Staryu to use Tackle and I looked at the floor. But something happened. Staryu had somehow missed. I immediately looked up and saw that Wartortle was still standing and waiting for me to give it a move to use.

I stood up and shouted, "Finish it off with Tackle!" Wartortle hit Staryu head on and Staryu fainted. I was still amazed by how Staryu missed. Tackle had a 100% accuracy rate and I had never seen Tackle miss. It must've been a glitch in the system. The game had done some strange things after all. I got my head back into the game and called back Wartortle. He would probably be no good for this battle, with no powerful moves and very low health. I sent out Pidgey, who looked as ready as ever to battle. Misty sent out I ordered Pidgey to use Quick Attack to start things off. It hit Starmie with the attack and flew back around to where it was flying originally. Starmie used BubbleBeam, which looked like the move Bubble, but with more bubbles and a faster popping rate. Both moves had done equal amounts of damage and I wasn't worried for a second. I ordered Pidgey to use Gust and Pidgey started flapping it's wings like it had to generate air for somebody dying and the attack hit Starmie and made it fall onto its back, and it started sinking into the water. I thought I had won, but that was not the case. Misty immediately ordered it to use Water Gun and catch Pidgey off guard. Starmie shot the bullet of water at Pidgey and Pidgey was soaked. It could barely fly and I didn't know what to do. But then I had a light bulb.

I shouted for Pidgey to use Gust again and to try and dry off in the process. It did so and I could tell Misty was even caught off guard by this, even though she was a NPC. She commanded Starmie to use Tackle on Pidgey and it used the attack on Pidgey. I could tell Pidgey was getting weak. Maybe after the next attack I used, Starmie would be weak too. I remembered that I still had Wartortle, but I didn't think he would be that much help because of how much health he had left. I decided to try and let Pidgey use Quick Attack and lower Starmie's health. Pidgey attacked Starmie with its attack and hit it in the center of its large red crystal. I could tell Starmie had about the same amount of health as Pidgey. Misty ordered Starmie to use BubbleBeam and it shot a string of bubbles at Pidgey. I was firmly grasping onto the rail on the podium. I didn't know if Pidgey would make it. But he did. The attack had hit Pidgey, and he started falling towards the water. But suddenly, he woke back up and started flying again. Not wanting him to wait, I ordered very passionately for Pidgey to use Gust one more time. Pidgey's wings started flapping very rapidly and it directed the gust of wind towards Starmie. The attack hit Starmie and it fell back into the water. I waited to see if it would shoot back out of the water, but it didn't.

Instead, it slowly floated to the surface of the water and I noticed that the red light from its crystal had gone out. It had fainted. Suddenly, Pidgey started to glow and I knew it was about to evolve. Its white silhouette started to grow into a larger bird and I noticed its wings and tail feathers grew longer. The small tuft of hair it had before grew into longer streaks of hair. The evolution ended and a message appeared over Pidgeotto's head and it said, "Congratulations! Your Pidgey evolved into a Pidgeotto!" I sighed in relief. I had just won the Gym Battle and I now had two evolved Pokémon. I figured it would be time to catch another Pokémon and train it up to fight the next Gym Leader. I called back Pidgeotto into its PokéBall and I walked over to where Misty was standing. She had a look of disappointment on her face, probably towards herself, and got the Cascade Badge out of her pocket. It was a small badge, about the size of the badge I had gotten from Brock, and it looked like a water droplet. She then cheered up a little and said, "Wow! You're too much! All right, you can have the Cascade Badge to show you beat me!" She then started talking about how my Pokémon would obey when leveling up and gave me two discs: one a TM which was cut, and the other which was BubbleBeam. I took the discs and put them in my bag along with a few coins Misty had given me. I walked away from the scene and approached Matt and Elliot. "You guys ready?" I asked.

"Yeah," Matt eagerly replied, "I'll think we'll be alright. Especially with the tips you gave us."

I looked down at Elliot and he nodded in agreement. Since there was nothing else I could say, I walked away. I exited the gym and walked down the streets of Cerulean City to find the Pokémon Center. Cerulean City was actually a really nice city. A couple of small rivers ran through it, I saw practically no trash on the streets, and the buildings looked pretty cool. I reached the Pokémon Center and I healed my Pokémon. To celebrate my second gym badge, I decided I would go for a swim with my Pokémon in the pool next to the Pokémon Center. I ascended up the stairs and entered the room Matt, Elliot, and I were staying in. I put all of my things down, took my shoes, socks, and shirt off and grabbed my PokéBalls. I grabbed a couple of towels from the bathroom in case my Pokémon needed to dry off and I began the walk down to the pool. I looked over at Nurse Joy to see if she was at all alarmed at me going to the pool, but she had a large grin on her face as usual. I took Wartortle and Pidgeotto out of their PokéBalls and I looked at the both of them. I realized Pidgeotto would probably just fly to whole time, but it might come down and splash me depending on its mood. I noticed that Wartortle had a devilish grin on its face and that it was ready to jump in with me. We both backed up to get a running start, and we started to sprint towards the pool to do cannonballs. Wartortle had the advantage of having a shell, and it curled itself into it. I tried to make a splash that would splash Pidgeotto, but Pidgeotto just simply flew away. I tried opening my eyes underwater to look at Wartortle, but the chlorine stung.

I swam for a little while until I noticed Matt and Elliot come back from their battles. They somehow didn't notice me swimming in the pool and I yelled, "How was it?"

Matt turned his head and replied very enthusiastically, "We both beat her. But it wasn't easy. We'll be down in a couple of minutes!"

The both of them ran into the Pokémon Center and I continued to play with both of my Pokémon. I put Wartortle on my shoulders so we could try and splash Pidgeotto, but the ground started shaking. It was like an earthquake was happening. I fell over and Wartortle cried out as it fell into the water. I tried swimming out of the pool, but I still couldn't see clearly. I grabbed the edge of the pool and pulled myself out. I called both of my Pokémon back into their PokéBalls and grabbed a towel. I quickly dried off and dashed back into the Pokémon Center. I sprinted up the stairs and kicked the door to my room open. Elliot was sitting underneath a table and Matt was closing the curtains. The ground was still shaking. I put my shoes back on and a T-shirt and Matt grabbed me by the shoulders, "What the heck is happening?" He shouted.

"I have no idea!" I shouted back. I looked back at Elliot and he had fear in his eyes. This earthquake was getting worse by the minute. "We need to get out of here! There's nothing else here we need to do." I shouted. Matt nodded and he quickly grabbed his and Elliot's things. We checked one last time to see if we had left anything and we rushed out of the Pokémon Center. I looked around and things were a mess. A couple of buildings had collapsed and lampposts and trashcans were all over the ground. Then I noticed something up in the mountains. There was a radio tower that was beeping rapidly and looked like it was emitting radio waves of some kind. That's where we needed to go. I started sprinting towards Route 25, which was the route that led towards the tower, and Matt and Elliot were close behind. Usually there were dozens of trainers on the route, but there weren't any here. I turned right on the route and looked farther up the mountain. I didn't notice anything but a small shack next to the radio tower. _Bill's House_. _That's what it is,_ I thought. I looked behind to see where Matt and Elliot were and they were only about ten yards away from me. "What's up there?" Elliot yelled.

The earthquakes weren't getting any better and I yelled back, "It's Bill's House. The earthquakes are coming from up there. Let's go see what the heck is happening."

We all started sprinting towards the house, but it was getting more difficult with the earthquakes. I jumped onto the porch of the house and started banging on the front door. I kept banging for a couple of minutes and there was no response. I looked down at Cerulean City and things didn't look pretty. More buildings had collapsed and I could see NPCs in the streets. But then the earthquakes stopped. It wasn't like they started to die down. They just immediately stopped. I slowly knocked on the door again and it immediately opened. A man that looked in his mid twenties with messy brown hair and brown eyes looked at me. He was wearing some kind of helmet that I could see through, but still covered his face. He also wore a purple polo shirt, khakis, and a pair of loafers. I gulped and asked, "A-Are you Bill?"

He was silent for a few seconds and replied, "Kind of. Now what the Hitmonlee do you want?"

 **A/N I've been gone for a while. I'm not dead. I recently moved into a new house and you all should know how that process is. Also I've been involved with a lot of school and athletics stuff so I haven't had much time to write. I keep trying to write as much as I can during the week, and I'll try to keep uploading. Remember to favorite, follow, and review.**


	13. Chapter 13: Bill's Story

This guy was THE Bill. He was the guy who made the Pokémon Storage System, at least in the games. I was confused when he said, "Kind of." Who else could he be? He looked like Bill and he lived in Bill's house. I couldn't speak for a couple of seconds. He just kept staring at me and Matt finally broke the ice.

"Sorry to bother you, sir, but what are you doing? This radio tower seems awfully suspicious considering a huge earthquake just happened."

Bill looked at Matt and replied, "That's none of your business. Now, I'm trying to be polite, but please leave. These earthquakes would've gotten worse if you three wouldn't have come."

I looked at him like he was crazy. "You're saying that like that's a good thing."

He nodded and said, "Oh yes, I was so close to escaping this game." He then muttered something about players and NPC's and he rose his voice a little, "Look, come inside. We've been out here for too long."

This was getting weird. As we followed Bill into his house, I noticed dozens of machines that either looked busted or hadn't had the best days. He led us to what looked like a living room and he motioned for us to sit down on a couch. The living room had a view of Cerulean City, which still looked horrible. Bill walked into the kitchen and quickly came back out with four cans of Dr. Pepper. I had no idea you could get Dr. Pepper in the game and I was shocked. "How did you get that?" I asked.

He chuckled and replied, "Being the main developer of the game, it's easy to hack it and get benefits from it."

I was very confused by his comment. He made it seem like he was a real person, and not an NPC. Matt immediately cracked open a can and started gulping it down. It had been a while since we had all had soda. Elliot sat up and asked, "Excuse me for asking but, who are you?"

Bill had a huge grin on his face and said, "I'm Bill, the main developer of Pokémon Real. Now you may be shocked, but obviously, I am not an NPC. I am a human, with a couple of modifications."

Matt started coughing because he took a large sip of Dr. Pepper and because he interpreted modifications a different way. "What do you mean by 'modifications?'"

"As you can see, I look like the character Bill from the Pokémon games. In real life however, that is not the case. I look completely different. There's a whole story as to why I look like this, but…"

Bill gazed out into the window and I took a sip of Dr. Pepper. It tasted kind of funny. Then again, Bill had "hacked" to get it. Elliot was kind of confused at the situation and asked, "Well, why do you look like the guy in the games?"

Bill's face paled and he took a deep breath. "As I said before, I am a human and look nothing like this. Ironically, my real name is William Braxton, or just Bill. I was, and still sort of am, the main developer of Pokémon Real. I look this way as a result of what happened the night before the release, but I don't feel comfortable talking about what exactly happened."

Bill's hands started shaking and I asked, "Bill, what happened?"

"Well, a couple of years ago, Nintendo hired me to make a new Pokémon game that would revolutionize video games. I had a whole bunch of degrees and stuff that qualified me for such business. Inspired by my love of Pokémon and the immense pressure on me, I strived to make the game the best. I worked for months without leaving the testing facilities at Nintendo without coming home. A few days before the game came out, I found two bugs for the game, the first being the Team Rocket algorithm. Their main intention was to basically do what they did in Pokémon Red and Blue. But somehow the other developers had changed it to where they could send real people in and make them Team Rocket members. It basically changed the whole dynamic. It was like the developers were trying to make a secret police for the game. Then I found the second bug. Originally if you fainted, you would wake up in the Pokémon Center and just try and battle again. But then it showed that you would literally die if you fainted. I didn't ask about it because I was the main developer, so I tried to change it. None of my attempts worked. Then more bad bugs started appearing, which I tried to stop. One day I took a sick day and just stayed home to rest. I had been overworked. I went home to finally see my girlfriend, Scarlett, and we hadn't seen each other in weeks. We talked for a really long time and she thought I should quit. She was also a huge Pokémon fan and I knew she was right. The next morning I walked into my boss's office, the head of the North America branch for Nintendo, and I quit. He was furious. He started throwing things at me and I was scared. Then the weirdest thing happened. Two people dressed like Team Rocket Grunts burst into the room and took me by the arms and dragged me to a room that I had never been to. It was a room that was designated for "special testing" and it had never been used. There was a chair and a Nintendo Real. They strapped me to the chair and started mercilessly beating me up. They then put a disc of Pokémon Real in a Real system and put one of the headsets on my face. I was screaming for them to let me go and they started punching and kicking me again. Then everything turned black and I woke up in this house. I looked over in the mirror and was horrified to see that the game had turned me into the Bill from the games. For the past few days I've tried numerous attempts to escape, but I didn't succeed. But I had a brilliant idea. I would start earthquakes with a radio tower I had built and attempt to break the fabric of the game. Of course, all of the remaining people who weren't wearing the helmets would die in the process, but I'll explain more of that later. Now there you have it. My story."

I tried to comprehend all of this. This was insane. The people who made Pokémon Real were trying to silence the guy who knew about the evil things in the game. There was silence for a few seconds and Matt asked, "Um, Bill, do you have any Doritos? That Dr. Pepper made me hungry."

I wanted to punch Matt in the stomach. It was like he hadn't listened to the story at all. I was more curious about his escape attempts and asked, "What are the helmets?"

He picked up the black helmet he had worn at the door and answered, "These helmets would transfer my consciousness back into my body. I was so close to escaping, but I heard knocking on the door and I thought it was Team Rocket. Now I'm sure they're watching me. As long as we're all in here, they can't attack us."

"Why?" Elliot asked.

"Because they have direct orders from whoever not to attack me as long as I'm in here. Occasionally I get emails from them trying to sway me back and threatening to kill me and my girlfriend if I don't agree with them."

"Do you have anymore helmets?" I asked.

"Nope, just the one." Bill replied.

Suddenly, somebody started banging on the door. Bill kicked a trashcan across the room and he said very aggressively, "They didn't give me time."

Matt ran to the door and peeked through a peephole. "It's Team Rocket."

He looked again and said, "I think that bleach blonde girl is their leader. She's always with them when they're chasing us."

I looked over at Bill who ran up the stairs. Elliot was trying to open a window to try and make an escape. From past experiences, Team Rocket probably had snipers aimed at the windows. Bill sprinted back down, now wearing a lab coat and carrying a suitcase, and said, "You three get to the garage, and I'll talk to them."

The three of us ran to the kitchen, which led to the garage, and Matt kicked the door open. There was a red Jeep waiting for us in the garage. We hid behind the Jeep and heard very faint talking.

"Hello Commander, how are you and Team Rocket doing this fine day?"

She started cursing at him and, from what it sounded like, pushed him to the floor. The Grunts started kicking over machines and furniture and the commander screamed, "Where are those kids and what have you been doing?"

Bill was probably as pale as a sheet of paper. "Commander, let's not be so barbaric. Here, let me get us some Dr. Peppers and-"

The commander started swearing at him more and it sounded like she punched him across the face. I could hear the Team Rocket Grunts in the kitchen now and I had no idea what to do. If they came in the garage, we were screwed. I heard Bill try to protest the unreasonable search of his house, but more fists started flying at him. The door to the garage opened and Elliot flinched. Matt whispered, "It's time to screw this thing, let's get outta here." He jumped into the driver's seat of the Jeep and Elliot jumped into the passengers seat. I officially pronounced Matt insane. I jumped into the back of the Jeep and the Grunts just stood there dumbfounded. There was still one problem though: the garage door was closed. That didn't stop Matt, though. He put his foot on the gas and the Jeep broke through the garage door. He started speeding down a mountain trail and I heard gunshots behind us. I wondered what was happening to Bill. We kept driving down the trail and I heard a motorcycle behind us. I gulped because I knew it was Team Rocket. But it wasn't. It was Bill. He started riding right next to us and jumped off the motorcycle and onto the Jeep.

"Bill!" I yelled. I noticed he was holding a small button in his hand and he yelled, "Adios you Team Rocket mother-" I quickly pressed the button for him and the explosion was deafening. Bill had just blown up his house. I looked closer at Bill and I noticed he had bruises all over his face, his hair was all messy, and he had a black eye on his left eye. "How did you get out of there?" I asked.

"They started beating me up more and I grabbed the button out of my coat pocket. I threatened to blow them up if they didn't let me go. They didn't think I was bluffing, but I kind of was. I got on my motorcycle and sped out. Then the snipers started shooting at me and then I knew that I wasn't bluffing. I was gonna blow them up."

Matt turned back at us and asked, "Where do we go from here? We can turn back to Cerulean City."

"Our next stop should be Vermillion City. We have to drive through Cerulean and a little bit on Route 5. We're gonna eventually have to ditch the Jeep." I answered.

Matt made a turn and we started driving through the forest. He was careful not to hit any trees and I was actually kind of stunned. He didn't even have a learners permit. We eventually reached Cerulean City and it was a mess. Almost all of the roads were blocked off and there was almost no way to get past them. I looked at Bill and said, "That's what you did."

His face turned red and he sheepishly replied, "At least nobody died… I hope."

Matt drove over to where the Pokémon Center was and we decided we would stay there for the night and try to set out the next day. Nurse Joy wasn't present, which honestly didn't matter because all of our Pokémon were healthy, so we just walked into a random guest room and camped there for the night. The day had been weird. First we got the badges from the Cerulean Gym, then we met Bill, and now we were friends with him.


	14. Chapter 14: Bill's Reveal

I woke up the next morning before everybody else and got ready for the day. I only had like two or three pairs of clothes, so I just put on my Pokéball shirt and a pair of jeans. I walked downstairs to the complimentary breakfast table that had automatically generated in case any trainers were staying in the Pokémon Center. I wondered how many people were still inside the game. Probably not many, since a lot might've died from losing battles or because of the obliteration of a couple of the cities. I hoped Cerulean City wouldn't be blown up. It actually was a really nice town and it would be a shame for it to be nuked by Team Rocket.

I grabbed a plate and piled it with eggs, a piece of toast, and a sausage. I slowly ate my breakfast at a table next to the door and I stared outside. I never noticed how every now and then, the sky shimmered, like the game was glitching or something. This game did seem like it would glitch a lot, considering what Bill had told us about the development of the game. I finished my breakfast and walked back upstairs to find everybody still asleep. Bill was wearing an eye mask and snoring very quietly. Matt on the other hand was like a freight train crashing into a nuclear power plant. He sounded kind of like my dad when he slept. Elliot, however, was curled up under the sheets of his bed, sleeping peacefully. Since it didn't seem like there was no rush, I didn't wake anybody up.

After about five minutes, I was bored. I checked all of my social media accounts a couple of times, but every time I tried to post a picture, the app crashed. That probably was to be expected though. I grabbed my Pokéballs out of my backpack and decided to go for a walk outside. The city still didn't look like it had recovered from the earthquakes Bill had caused. It made me really think about the natural disasters that happened in the real world. I walked over to the northern part of town where there was a small lake. I looked around and thought it would be a good place for a swim and to possibly train Wartortle for a little while. Since I didn't bring an extra change of clothes, I decided to hold off. A bright bolt of light hit my eyes and I couldn't see for a second. Once I regained my vision, I turned my head to the right and saw something shiny in a bush. I cautiously walked over to the bush to get a closer look at the shiny object. I put my hand in the bush and grabbed something that seemed like a large stick. But it wasn't a stick, in fact. It was a fishing pole and attached to it was a note. It said, _"This is Jimmy's fishing pole. Under any circumstances, nobody touch. Only Jimmy can touch because he is the best fisherman."_ I was tempted to use it. I wanted to catch a new Pokémon since the gyms were going to start getting harder. There was already a little bait that looked old on the hook. I looked around to see if anybody was watching and I cast the rod into the water. I sat there and waited a minute before anything happened. Suddenly, the end of the line started bobbing up and down and I reeled the line back in. A Poliwag jumped out of the water and onto the mainland. I smiled since Poliwag had great potential because of its future evolutions. I sent out Wartortle and said, "Wartortle, use Tackle!"

He hit the Poliwag as hard as it could and the Poliwag looked like it had taken a lot of damage. It replied by using Hypnosis, which put Wartortle to sleep. Since I had Pidgeotto, I immediately recalled Wartortle and sent out Pidgeotto. "Pidgeotto, use Gust!" I yelled.

Pidgeotto started rapidly flapping its wings creating a small tornado of dirt and wind around Poliwag. Poliwag looked like it had taken some damage, but it still looked able to fight. It used Hypnosis again, but it missed. I wasn't surprised because I knew Hypnosis only had an accuracy of about sixty percent. I didn't want to make the Poliwag faint, so I had to think quickly. Use another move or try and capture it. I decided to do the latter and I threw a Pokéball at it. It hit the Poliwag on the swirly thing on its chest and Poliwag was vaporized inside of the Pokéball. It moved once. Twice. Then it moved a final time. I heard the small clicking noise of the Pokéball and I knew I had captured Poliwag. I had a big grin on my face and I was overjoyed that I now had three Pokémon. Of course, the next gym was an Electric Gym and all of my Pokémon were weak against electric types. I would cross that bridge when I got to it.

I put the fishing pole underneath the bush where I found it and I walked away from the scene. Hopefully Jimmy didn't see me and that he thought that nothing happened. I made my way back to the Pokémon Center and healed my Pokémon upon return. I quietly walked back upstairs to see if anybody was awake, but they were still out. I checked my phone to see what time it was and it was already ten o'clock! I started shaking Matt, who was still snoring, and he woke up. Once he realized it was me, he grabbed a pillow and threw it at me.

"What was that for?" I asked, very offended.

"Jake, we're literally in no rush. Bill blew the crap out of Team Rocket and I feel like we're safe right now. Just go back to bed."

Since Matt wasn't being cooperative, I tried waking up Bill.

"What time is it?" He asked.

"Ten o'clock."

"Wake me up in five minutes."

And with that, he was back to sleep. I was gonna take drastic measures. I took Matt's backpack and took out the Pokéball that contained Pikachu. I released Pikachu from its Pokéball and squatted down to talk to it.

"Now listen Pikachu, we haven't had that much interaction together, but this is for Matt. Use whatever electric move; I don't care, on everybody in this room." Pikachu turned its head sideways, and it began to understand what I was asking. I quickly grabbed onto whatever insulator I could find to try and insulate the electricity. I grabbed onto a sheet of paper, which I had learned was an insulator in my science class, and braced myself for the electric shock. Apparently the amount of paper I was using didn't work or I wasn't listening in science class. I was electrocuted by the huge shock Pikachu emitted, but at least it woke up Bill and Matt.

Bill shot out of bed and yelled at me, "What the-" He caught himself before he started swearing because he noticed Elliott was now awake. Elliott yawned and asked, "Hey guys, are we gonna leave soon or can we just go back to bed?"

Bill looked at the clock and said, "No, we gotta go. If we wanna get to Vermillion City by the end of the day, we should leave pretty soon."

With that, everyone started to pack up their things and we headed out. We walked out to the Jeep and buckled in. I sat up front with Bill so I could ask him questions about the game and Matt sat with Elliott in the back. We started the drive out of town and I asked Bill, "So do you have any Pokémon?"

"Nope, and I probably won't catch any while I'm at it." I looked at Bill and he looked a little disappointed. It was like he _wanted_ to catch them. Since the conversation seemed like it was beginning to go south, I decided to change it. "So, do you think anybody survived the nuking of your house?"

He shrugged and replied, "Beats me. If they did, they must really wanna kill me now."

I asked more questions about the game, which Bill was happy to answer. I could tell Bill liked having the company of our group. It seemed like he needed somebody to talk to. Considering he was locked up in a house inside of a video game.

We finally exited Cerulean City and started driving on Route 6. We would drive a couple of miles south and eventually reach the Underground Tunnel, which would take us in a faster way to Vermillion City. I looked back to see what Elliott and Matt were doing. They were playing some basketball game on Matt's phone. They both seemed to be really enjoying it, and I was slightly jealous. I also wanted to get to know Elliott more, but Matt was obviously doing a better job. I turned around to try and think about other things.

We kept driving for a little while and I wondered what was taking so long. I knew the game made the distances between cities longer, but I didn't know Route 6 was this long. We suddenly came to a stop. I didn't notice it at first, but there was a huge log in the road.

"Can we drive around it?" Matt asked.

Bill started looking around and answered, "No, I think we're just gonna have to walk from here."

We grabbed our things while Bill drove the Jeep behind some bushes to hide it. Elliott was confused by this and asked, "Why did you hide it?"

"Two reasons, one being that I don't want people stealing my Jeep. The second reason being I want to come back and get it after we get to Vermillion City."

I was shocked by that. "You mean you aren't coming with us after Vermillion?"

Bill took a deep breath and replied, "Kid, I have to get out of this game. So do the rest of us. But I can't do that by tagging along with you guys. I'm gonna keep trying to find new ways to get out, and when I find one, I'll try and find you guys."

Matt broke in and asked, "Can't you just become a trainer and try and defeat the… who's the boss at the end of this game? I forgot."

"The Elite Six." I muttered.

"That would take too long and it's too risky. Who knows what would happen if I battled."

"So you're just gonna leave us?" I asked. I realized my voice faltered a bit when I said that.

Bill looked at me dead in the eyes and replied, "Don't think of it that way kiddo. I'm gonna try and get us all out. I'll still be with you guys, in a way." He stuck his hand out for me to shake it and he asked, "Do you understand? Can we just forget about this?"

I had no idea what to say. Bill, a really cool guy who knew practically everything about the game, was just leaving us. I slapped his hand away and emotionally yelled, "Don't give me any of that crap. You're just leaving us because you don't wanna risk it with us. You think those Team Rocket goons are just gonna kill us all."

Bill tried to protest, but I wouldn't have it. I turned around and ran away. While I was running, I realized how much I looked up to Bill. I had never thought of him like that. I kept running and I heard the voices of my group behind me. I didn't stop. I didn't wanna have to turn around and talk to Bill again. I kept running until I finally tripped on a tree root. I felt my arm starting to hurt again. I never had told anyone that I hurt it. I tried to ignore it, but it kept hurting. I sat up against a tree, and I could hear Bill and Matt yelling my name. I didn't want to talk to Bill after our little episode. I heard a movement in a bush not too far from me and I then heard a twig snap. I turned my head and I saw somebody. It was somebody familiar, but they looked almost unrecognizable. One of them was a girl who had her dark brown hair in two French braids on the back of her head and she wore jeans, combat boots, and a white t-shirt. The other was a guy who looked like Dean Winchester (yes, I had watched an episode or two of Supernatural) but with glasses. I then realized it was Audrey and Chris.

 **A/N Final exams just finished, which is why I didn't upload at all in May. Since I'm now on summer break, I'll be able to write more and upload more. Remember to favorite, follow, and review.**


	15. Chapter 15: The Reunion

"Jake?" Audrey said, very confused.

"Audrey?" I replied in the same tone.

You would've thought I would've gotten up and hugged her, but it was the opposite. Audrey ran over to me and hugged me. I was caught off guard by this and I tried to get a feel of the situation.

"Hey Jake, how are you? Long time, no see." Chris said with a grin. I was enjoying the moment with my sister, and then I realized Chris was here. Audrey got back up and held his hand.

"You remember Chris, right Jake? We've started dating now." Audrey said.

I wanted to facepalm, but that would've been rude. "So, how's that working out?" I asked.

"It's great!" Audrey answered in an excited voice. "We've gotten to know each other so much more and we've become great friends."

I looked over at Chris and he smiled. I couldn't tell if it was a devilish grin or if he was just being nice to me. Suddenly, Matt, Bill, and Elliot came running through some bushes to where we were.

"Jake, we've been looking all-" Matt was cut off by noticing Audrey. He just stood there with his mouth wide open. "Audrey?" He asked, with his voice cracking and his face as red as a tomato.

Audrey waved and said, "Hi Matt, how are you?"

Matt didn't say anything for a second and replied, "I'm doing just great at the moment. H-How are you?"

"I'm great too. You remember Chris, right?"

Matt noticed they were holding hands and he put the two and two together. I could tell he was about to faint, but he didn't. He instead nodded and sat down on a tree stump next to me. Audrey looked at Elliot and Bill with a confused expression and asked, "Who are your new friends?"

I sat up and answered, "This is Elliot, a kid we met in Viridian City who helped us escape from Team Rocket, and this is Bill, the main developer of Pokémon Real."

Chris took a closer look at Bill and realized this was THE Bill. He walked over and stuck his hand out, "I'm Chris. So you're the developer of Pokémon Real?"

Bill shook his hand and glanced over at me. We would talk later. "Yeah, I made everything here. I guess you have a billion questions for me."

With that, the two of them walked a few steps away and started talking about the game. Audrey sat down next to me and took off her backpack. "So, what brings you to the middle of the forest?" I asked.

"Well, Chris and I had just finished the Gym Battle in Vermillion City and I was worried about you. I suggested that before we head any farther, we should try and look for you. Chris was a bit wary of the idea, but I convinced him to."

I wondered what that meant. "How many Pokémon have you caught?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Oh yeah," She said as she grabbed her Pokéballs out of her bag. "I have four already. There's Charmander, Nidoran, Clefairy, and Ponyta."

I was surprised at how many Pokémon she already had. She apparently only had three badges, and I thought it was a bad strategy to already have four Pokémon. Then again, you would have more Pokémon than your opponent in a Gym Battle.

Audrey asked, "How many do you have?"

"I have three, Matt has two, just if you were curious." It was a bad idea to mention Matt. Audrey could obviously tell he was in distress, so she didn't try to communicate with him. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds until Audrey asked, "Have you guys been alright being by yourselves? I'm alright since I'm not alone and I have Chris."

I wanted to lie. We had been through so much in past few days. I didn't even remember how long we had been in the game. I did remember no time had passed in the real world. Or maybe the guidebook lied and the amount of time really had elapsed. I didn't wanna think about it.

"We're alright. We've gone through some rough areas, but we're still here."

"Well that's good," Audrey replied. She looked at me in the eyes and asked, "Would you guys wanna come with me and Chris? We can still go through Vermillion City for you to battle the Gym Leader."

I heard Matt make a groaning noise when she asked the question. Matt's crush on my sister was weird. If somebody thinks it weird, just forget about it. Matt's a cool guy if he's not around Audrey. But I had to think about this offer.

"Have you talked to Chris about it?" I asked.

"We talked about it on the way here. You can even join our Guild if you want to." She answered. I had totally forgotten about the whole "guild" process. I remembered that Matt, Elliot, and I were in "Clan Comedy."

"What's your Guild named?" Elliot asked, speaking up for the first time in a while.

"Clan Superior." Audrey said with a grin on her face.

"We might have to think about it," I said, "We don't wanna be a burden on you guys or anything. Besides, we can manage on our own."

Audrey seemed a little offended by that and said, "I know we always haven't gotten along as brother and sister, but now I'm having fun and usually we don't have fun together. Wouldn't you wanna have a little fun with your older sister for once?"

I know had to think about that factor. I looked over at Matt who was emotionless and I looked over at Elliot who was drawing a picture in the dirt. "We'll follow you guys at least until Vermillion City, but we're not changing Guilds or anything."

Audrey smiled and said, "That's great, Jake. I'm actually happy that we can spend time together now."

I put on a fake smile. Audrey had definitely changed. A key factor was probably Chris, but I tried to look on the positive side of things. My sister was actually treating me with a positive attitude for one of first times in my life. I always wondered why she disliked me.

We picked up our things and started to walk away. Bill and Chris realized we were leaving, so they jogged to where we were and continued their conversation. As we were walking, Audrey asked, "Do you wanna battle?"

I immediately thought of like, seven red flags with that idea. One being that losing would kill me and winning would kill Audrey. I replied, "That would kill us, right?"

Audrey replied, "Oh, stupid me, I didn't think about that. That's a real shame we can't battle each other."

I looked back at Chris and noticed he looked a little different from when I last saw him. His stubble had grown out a little bit more and was turning into a beard. His hair was a little longer, but not too much. Audrey on the other hand looked very different in my opinion. Her skin used to be a regular shade that a normal white person would have, but now she had a tan like she had been on the beach for a while. She also had her hair in the two braids, which was a way I had never seen her style her hair. But they were still the same people, just with slightly different looks.

Matt looked like he was going to a funeral. I didn't like seeing him like this. He was my best friend and I hated that my sister was making him feel this way. "You alright, buddy?"

He slowly shook his head and looked at me. I could tell he was both intimidated by Chris and flustered by Audrey. I decided to try and cheer him up.

"You know, if two Pidgeys are fighting in battle, it's kind of like a cock fight."

That made things worse. He sat down on a stump, which abruptly stopped everyone else.

"Are you okay, Matt?" Chris asked.

"Need… Water." He pulled out his water bottle and started chugging it. This was the weirdest mood I had ever seen Matt in. I was going to change that.

"I think I need to use the bathroom. Matt, you should come too since you drank all of that water." I grabbed Matt's arm and started to drag him away. It was surprisingly easy, even though he was twice my size. After walking a ways away from everyone else, I slapped Matt on his cheek. "Matt, stop acting like you just watched the SPCA commercial. Audrey is not one of those dying puppies."

He was silent for a second and asked, "Are those the commercials with the, 'In the Arms of an Angel?'"

I nodded and said, "Now, start acting normal again. Audrey has a boyfriend," He winced when I said that, but I continued, "and you need to accept it. It's a little rough on me too, but I'm not moping about it."

He looked at me and said, "I've liked her since elementary school. And that's been a long time. You remember the whole playground thing. I don't know if I can just stop liking her."

I put my hand on his shoulder and replied, "Look, there are other fish in the sea. You're the fisherman, and fishermen usually don't focus on one fish, unless you're like the guy in Moby Dick or whatever."

Matt chuckled, considering we both had to read it going into eighth grade. "You're right. I'll try and stop being a wreck and I'll try to stay on target with our goal. I won't let Audrey distract me."

I patted him on the back and said, "That's the spirit. Now let's go back and you and Audrey can try and have some small talk."

We walked back to where everyone was waiting and we continued to walk. The conversation had given Matt some confidence and he was having some small talk with Audrey. Audrey actually seemed to like it, considering how many times whenever she said something, Matt just sat there like a rock.

I noticed Bill wasn't talking to Chris. I decided to make amends with him, so I walked over to him. "Sorry about what happened. I think you should try and destroy the game."

He smiled and replied, "Thanks champ, I knew you would come around. Besides, when I figure out a way, I'll find you guys and you can come with me."

"I think we'd all like that." I said. We'd been walking for a while and it seemed like some people wanted to take a small break. "How much farther is the Underground Path?" I asked.

"Not that far, why are you asking?" Bill replied.

"Maybe instead of going through Saffron City and walking more, we could just go through the Path."

"That sounds like a good idea, considering it came from you." Audrey said with a smirk. There was my old sister.

I noticed Matt started looking around in the forest for something. "What is it?" I asked.

"I heard something. I feel like someone, or something is-"

He was cut off by a wild Sandshrew jumping out of nowhere. This was very odd since you couldn't catch a Sandshrew on Route 5. This game had surprised me many times though. Matt was the first to step up and challenge it. He sent out his Ivysaur and immediately ordered it to use Vine Whip. It hit the Sandshrew with its vines, which had come out of the flower on the back of Ivysaur. The attack did a lot of damage, since Sandshrew was weak against Grass attacks.

Sandshrew retaliated by using Slash. It sent its piercing claws into Ivysaur, but Ivysaur looked all right. Matt ordered Ivysaur to use Tackle to deal just a little damage so he could catch it. Sandshrew looked pretty weak, but it used Slash again. Matt grabbed a Pokéball and threw it at the Sandshrew like he was a pitcher throwing a baseball to the umpire. It hit Sandshrew and it was forced into the ball. It fidgeted once. Twice. Then it fidgeted a third time and the Pokéball made a clicking noise. I patted Matt on the back and congratulated him. I realized that he now had three Pokémon that would do somewhat decently against the Vermillon Gym. I, on the other hand, had Pokémon that were weak to Electric Pokémon. Maybe I could convince Matt to make a trade or something.

 **A/N This is very off topic, but at first I thought Wonder Woman would be mediocre, but then I saw it and I actually liked it. Remember to favorite, follow, and review.**


	16. Chapter 16: Rush to the Tunnel

We decided to stop and rest before we reached the Underground Path, since we had been walking all day. We found a spot under some trees that wasn't too far from a spring where we could refill our water bottles. Matt, Elliot, and I got out our sleeping bags and started to build the fire. Bill didn't have a sleeping bag, so he decided to keep watch for the night. Chris and Audrey were refilling the water bottles and making sure the area was safe. I didn't want to run into Team Rocket again.

Once we were all gathered around the fire, Bill sat on a log and asked, "You guys wanna sing a song? I know the perfect John Denver song-"

"No, I think we're good." Matt said with a fake smile, which cut off Bill. He looked tired. I guess, in a sense, we were all pretty tired. I just wanted to get to Vermillion City so I could get the Gym Battle over with. I noticed Audrey and Chris's sleeping bags were pretty close to each other. It could've been worse though. Apparently, our fire wasn't that big of a fire and it went out pretty quickly. Just as we were about to go to sleep, it started to go out.

"I can go try and find some more firewood, if you guys want." Bill offered.

"No, we need someone to keep watch. Besides, even if you did go, there's the risk of someone getting attacked by something." I said.

I noticed Audrey pull a Pokéball out of her bag and I remembered she said she had a Charmander. It could reignite the fire. "I can help you guys out. " She confidently remarked. She sent out her Charmander, but it certaintly wasn't a Charmander. It was its evolution, Charmeleon.

"I thought you said you had a _Charmander_." I said, very confused.

"Did I say that? I meant to say Charmeleon." She said with a chuckle. Charmeleon could see that our fire was almost dead and it stuck its tail into the pile of wood and among other things. The fire roared to life again, even though there wasn't that much wood or kindling. Audrey called back her Charmeleon and we, except for Bill, went to bed. I did have a dream that night.

I was running in a very dark tunnel. Maybe it wasn't a tunnel. Maybe it was a cave or something. Either way, it was dark and I was running down some sort of tunnel, man made or nature made. I could hear voices behind me. Some were people I knew like my family or my friends, like Matt and Elliot. But I kept running for some reason, and I couldn't stop. Eventually, I reached a dead end. I tried to reach for my backpack, but I didn't have it. I literally had nothing except my phone. Then whoever was chasing me caught up. I didn't even know who this person was. They were wearing jeans, a red t-shirt, and black sunglasses. They almost looked like me, but older.

"Alright kid, you're finished." He said in a very confident voice.

Now usually, you can't control your dreams, according to science. But for some reason in this one, I could. Since I had no Pokémon or any weapons, I had to use the old Jake Davidson charm. I would challenge him to a dance battle. Now why would I do this? Well, one reason was because I literally couldn't do anything else. Another reason was because right before I was sucked into the game, I had watched Guardians of the Galaxy. Everybody should know where I'm going with this. I started playing the song "Sussudio" and I started wildly flapping my arms and moving my legs weirdly. The guy looked very confused and asked, "Kid, what the," He swore after that, but for some reason, the dreamed blurred it out. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Dance off bro, you and me." I said, quoting Star Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy.

The guy started tapping his feet on the ground and I kept going at it. The guy started to get more upbeat with his dance and we both were going full 80s style. But, my dream ended when Matt started shaking me. "C'mon man, we gotta hurry. There's a big storm coming."

I sat up and looked at the sky. There was a big storm coming. And it didn't look pretty. The sky was a dark grey color almost like it was dawn. It still looked kind of dark. I heard a boom to my right and figured that it was thunder. I immediately started packing up my things.

I picked up my backpack with everything in it and Matt started running. That caught everyone off guard. Now I usually like storms, but when I'm inside. If I'm outside, I'll usually try and get to some shelter or something. Matt was very different. He didn't like storms that would end up really badly. So, to not lose him, everyone else started running with him. Nobody even knew if this was the right way to the Underground Tunnel. Then it started raining. Raining is an understatement, actually. It was Noah's Flood type of rain. Within a minute, everyone was soaked. But that didn't stop us from running.

We eventually reached a huge bump in the road. There was a mudslide and it didn't look like we could get across. Matt was standing there waiting for us and he asked, "How can we get across?"

"I don't know," I replied, "I'm pretty sure our Pokémon can't help us. We might just have to jump."

"Are you crazy?" Audrey interrupted.

"There's no going around and we can't go back. If we get past this mudslide, the Underground Tunnel won't be that far." Bill informed.

"How do you know where it is?" I asked.

"I noticed we're right next to the route the Tunnel is on and it looks like we're going the right way."

I tried looking for another way around the mudslide. There wasn't any other way. We would have to jump. Now I can't jump that far. I can barely jump from one couch to another couch when playing "The Ground is Lava." I tried jumping across a river that was about seven feet across. Of course, I got my shoes wet. This mudslide looked like twice that.

"I'll try and make the jump first." I said.

"Are you sure there's no other options?" Bill asked.

"We have Pokémon that can dig underground, but I don't think that can do anything."

Elliot interrupted the conversation and said, "I have Diglett, it could dig through the mud and try and make a path."

I was hesitant to that idea. Diglett could get stuck or it could be washed away. In retrospect, that would probably happen to everyone else if we tried jumping.

"Alright Elliot, send out Diglett and tell it to dig a path through the mudslide for us to walk in."

Elliot did as he was told and sent out his Diglett. I noticed the mud wasn't flowing as quickly now. That gave me some hope. Diglett listened to Elliot's command and started to tread through the mud, leaving a narrow pathway behind it. We would have to be quick to cross. Matt was the first to cross. He quickly ran across, getting some mud on his shoes. Audrey and Chris were next and they did the same as Matt. Bill picked up Elliot and his stuff and carefully walked across. This pathway was beginning to disappear. I looked to my left and saw a large wave of mud coming in my direction. I started running, but I tripped on a tree root covered in mud. The wave was getting closer. This was it. I pushed myself up and jumped for it. I barely made it to the other side. Matt pulled me up and I noticed I was covered in mud from when I tripped. I looked down at Diglett and patted it on its brown head. Without the mole Pokémon, we never would've made it across. But making it across didn't stop the fact the storm was getting bigger and we weren't in the Underground Tunnel. We started running again, but I kept slipping because of the mud. I was careful not to fall again or anything. But, the inevitable happened. I slipped when I stepped into a puddle of mud and I landed on my right arm.

Now remember, my right arm was the one I was pretty sure I had broken or injured somehow. This made it worse. My arm started shooting with pain that I had never felt before. That was probably the blow that would fully break it. I tried moving it, but it kept hurting with an excruciating pain.

"You alright?" Matt asked.

"I think I just broke my arm. I don't think I can get up and make it to the Tunnel."

Chris walked back over and looked at me. "I'm pretty sure we have a first aid kit. When we get to the Tunnel, we can do whatever to your arm."

I nodded as a sign of thanks. But how would I _get_ to the Tunnel? Matt easily answered that question by picking me up and running. Now I had broken my wrist before, but I didn't think the pain there was as bad. That was probably because as soon as Matt broke my wrist after he did a RKO on me, (if you don't remember, go back to the beginning) my parents immediately took me to the hospital. This, however, was worse since my arm had been somewhat injured since the chase in Mt. Moon.

I couldn't tell how long we had been running. It seemed like it had been a while. I noticed Matt was beginning to run out of breath. Then I heard Elliot yell, "Look!"

I turned my head and noticed what looked like an abandoned shack that was boarded up. Bill ran up to it and ran his head over a sign above the door. It read, "The Underground Tunnel: A Direct Road from Route 5 to Route 6 Without Going Through Saffron City"

Matt let me down and I walked over to Bill. "Why is it all boarded up?"

He looked closer at the pieces of wood that covered the door and the few windows and replied, "This happened recently, these boards look somewhat newer and the building doesn't look that dilapidated."

"Anyone have any Pokémon that could bust through the door?" Matt asked, trying to help.

Chris stepped in and suggested, "I could send out my Nidorino and it could bust down the door."

That was actually a pretty good idea. We all agreed it was the only way and Chris sent out his Nidorino. You know, I never really could describe a Nidoran or its evolutions. It just didn't look like any real life animal.

The Nidorino backed up a little before it would ram into the door and Chris ordered it to use Horn Attack on the door. It charged at the door and it's horn pierced through the boards. The door was wide open and we all walked inside. The place didn't look that bad on the inside. There was just a little bit of trash, but it didn't seem like it had been abandoned for that long. I started to walk down the hallway, but Audrey stopped me. "We need to do something about your arm. Let Chris take a look at it, he knows what to do with these things."

I reluctantly let him look at it. He grabbed some wood from the door and used some cloth from some bandages he had to make a makeshift splint. Hopefully I would be all right. I really wanted to be healed in time for my Gym Battle.

 **A/N HAPPY 4** **TH** **OF JULY (at least when this was uploaded) Now I'm extremely patriotic since I'm American and I was just raised that way. Not that much longer until school starts again :( But things will be all right. Remember to favorite, follow, and review.**


	17. Chapter 17: Machine Guns Ready To Go

I didn't like wearing a splint. It was uncomfortable, it made it to where I couldn't use my dominant hand, and it looked weird. But Chris did what he could and I guess I appreciated that a little. We didn't immediately start walking down the Path. You see, the Path went on for a couple miles, so it would take at least the majority of a day to walk through it. It also went right through Saffron City and we were debating whether to stop or not.

I noticed Elliot was shivering and he didn't look all that well. Everyone was soaking wet from the rain and that wasn't too good for our personal health. "Hey guys," I said, "I think before we head into the Path anymore, we should at least put on a new set of clothes. We're all soaked and I think it would be better to wear some dry clothes."

Everyone nodded in agreement and we unzipped our bags and got an extra change of clothes. We were about to change, when Matt asked, "Wait, what about Audrey? Shouldn't she change somewhere else?"

He had a good point. I didn't want anyone looking at my sister in a perverted way and I didn't want Audrey to feel uncomfortable.

Chris suggested we all just turn around and not look, which was basically the only thing we could do. When she was done, we all changed, but turned around when we had to change underwear.

We started walking deeper into the Path and I was getting bored. Nobody was talking to anyone else. So, to lighten things up, I sent out Wartortle to walk with us. He was extra happy to get out of his ball. Wartortle had a big grin on his face since he was just chilling out and not battling. I could see why he liked that. He would occasionally bump my leg or something, and I had no idea why, but I was fine with it. He was probably just showing affection or something.

As we kept walking through the Path, it got darker and darker. Maybe that was why Wartortle was bumping into me. "Anybody have a flashlight or something?" Matt asked.

Audrey replied, "No, but I have Charmeleon, he could light up the place." 

That was actually a pretty good idea from Audrey. She sent out her Charmeleon and we could actually see again. I still was a little bit cautious about the Path though. It was a few more miles until we reached Vermillion City and I thought the Path itself was kind of sketchy. It was boarded up, all of the lights were out, and it looked like it hadn't been used in a while. There also could've been wild Pokémon and trainers who we had almost no interest in battling. I decided to stay on alert in case anything happened. I didn't wanna run into Team Rocket or any crap like that again.

I noticed Matt was looking a little bit fatigued. "You alright, buddy?"

"Yeah, just a little tired. How much longer until we get there?"

Chris overheard us and answered, "It's a few more miles, but we should get there in a couple of hours." 

Matt sighed and I could tell something was wrong. "Hey, something is wrong, I can tell. What's up?"

Matt looked at me for a second and replied, "This is starting to get tiring for me. At first I was energetic and kind of excited that we could explore a new place together. Now I'm just kind of… meh…"

"Why's that?" I asked.

"We don't really do much anymore. We just walk around. It's boring and I wanna do more fun stuff like we did in the beginning. I wanna go home."

I put my hand on his shoulder, even though I had to look up to him, and replied, "I do too. But we have to beat the game to get out of here."

"We still have so much to do, right? We only have two badges out of… how many was it again?"

"Eight, but there's four more you have to battle to get out."

"So twelve? That's impossible."

"Actually, it isn't," Bill blurted out. I had almost forgotten Bill was still with us. "People have beaten the Elite Four millions of times. I've done it before in the regular games and it wasn't that hard for me."

A light bulb went off inside of my head. "Bill, since you're the main developer, you should know cheat codes and stuff like that, right?" 

He shook his head and replied, "Sorry, kid, there's no fast tracking or cheating in this game. Everyone was very meticulous not to create any cheat codes or anything."

"They must've put a whole lot of work into this…" I paused and thought about the logic of the game for a second. Just _why_ were we stuck in here? Why would somebody "trap" us in here?

"Bill," I asked, "was there ever a beta version or a pre release to the game that ever came out?"

"Nope, they didn't want leaks or anything to come out. They wanted everything to be a surprise."

That seemed very sketchy to me. Most games, especially one like this, should come out with a beta version or a pre release. I wondered why they wouldn't want to release one. Then it hit me. They wouldn't release a beta version so people wouldn't know what was coming. Whoever created this game had some twisted mind. I just wanted to figure out the reasoning for trapping everybody inside of a sadistic Pokémon game. Huh, I never thought I would use the words "sadistic" and "Pokémon game" in the same sentence. I decided to get my mind off of the matter. I looked over at Chris, who had his arm around Audrey, and it made me feel a little bit weird. I had never seen my sister have a boyfriend. Especially one that seemed sketchy and kind of like a degenerate. I had only known the guy for a little while, so I decided to try and give him a second chance. He did look like Dean Winchester, who I thought was kind of cool from the few episodes I had watched.

Suddenly, Wartortle's ears (is that what you call them? I never really knew,) perked up like he was hearing something.

"You alright, buddy?" I cautiously asked.

Wartortle was wildly looking around like it was hearing something we couldn't hear. I could tell he was scared.

"Hey guys, can we stop for a minute? Wartortle is acting weird."

Bill turned around and answered, "Just put him in his PokéBall, he'll be-"

Machine gun fire started rapidly popping through the dark halls. Pop, pop, pop. I couldn't hear anything. My ears were ringing. As soon as I heard the gunfire, I hit the deck. Charmeleon's fire had gone out because Audrey had returned it to its PokéBall. There was no cover to get behind and it was dark. I couldn't see or make out the outline of anybody. What the heck was happening? Was it Team Rocket? I thought Bill blew them up. It was stupid of me to think there weren't anymore. Then I remembered Wartortle. He was still out of his PokéBall. He could stop this. I opened my mouth to say something, but then the machine gun fire stopped. I heard footsteps. They were coming closer. I couldn't see who it was, but I could hear them. I tried to hear breathing from any of the people in my group. Then it hit me they were probably holding their breath to make it seem like they were dead. I did the same. Then a flashlight turned on. I immediately closed my eyes. I wanted to open them. I wanted to see who it was and if my friends and sister were still alive. If it was Team Rocket, I tried thinking about how many times they had attacked us. I had lost count.

But the person, or people, I still didn't know how many of them there were, didn't stop and look at me or anyone else. They didn't check our vitals or anything. I just heard the footsteps pass by. It was only one person. As soon as they had passed us, I rolled over and looked to see who it was. The person was about forty yards away and they were wearing a hood and I could see them holding a machine gun. It wasn't Team Rocket. Team Rocket wouldn't wear hoods.

"Hey, who are-" They turned around and fired in my general direction. I fell to the ground to dodge the bullets. The person ran over to me and I held my hands up. "Don't shoot, don't shoot."

The person took their hood off and I could see their face. It was a woman who was shooting at us. She had chestnut brown hair in a bun on her head and she had a mousy face with piercing blue eyes. "Who are you?" She said in a British accent.

Lying was probably the worst decision to make. So I decided to tell the truth. What else did I have to lose? "My name is Jake Davidson, I'm thirteen years old, and I'm just a regular Pokémon trainer."

"Who are the others?" She asked very quickly.

"All of the guys are my friends, the girl is my sister." None of them were moving and I was worried.

"Tell them to get up." She ordered.

"They could be dead." I countered.

"They might not be." She countered back.

Chris got up without me even asking. "Who are you?" The woman asked.

"My name is Chris. Why were you shooting at us?" He asked.

"I thought you could've been Team Rocket Grunts trying to blow up the Underground Path. There's been a rumor about that happening. I've been patrolling the Path with my Pokémon and this gun I stole."

"Well, we're not Team Rocket. You can let us go now." I said.

"I can't let that happen. You could be spies or prisoners and all of this could be a trap." She replied.

I was beginning to think this woman was crazy. I looked closer at her and noticed she looked like she was in her mid twenties, she had a scar on her chin, and the hood covered her clothes.

"We're not spies!" I said, very nervous.

"Why should I believe you?"

Matt then got up and the machine gun was pointed at him. He put his hands up and replied, "Woah, woah, woah, let's not be hasty," He held out his hand and said, "Burt Macklin, Pokémon Expert. I can assure you, we are no spies of the evil Team Rocket."

I sighed and thought to myself that we were gonna die.

"Burt Macklin? I feel like I've heard of that name before… like on some television show or something." The woman said, very curiously.

"Well, I was on… an episode of Pokémon and they used my name as a real character." Matt easily answered.

"I stopped watching after Diamond and Pearl so I have no idea what you're talking about." She said.

" _Smart girl."_ I thought, considering I thought the show was in decline ever since Diamond and Pearl ended.

"Well, we are not spies, I can tell you that…" Matt informed.

"Just to be sure, let's battle." The woman said very confidently.

"Wait a minute, won't that kill one of us?" I asked.

The woman laughed and noticed we weren't kidding. "You're serious? When they said, 'If you faint, you will perish in the real life,' they only meant if you lost to a NPC, not a real person. That would take all of the fun out of the game."

I had a million questions about that statement. What happened when I beat that Team Rocket Grunt and he died? Did that not apply for some reason? Was there something different about Team Rocket Grunts? "How do you know this?" I asked.

"I've battled dozens of people and I've been beaten and they've been beaten. You just lose some money, that's all."

I still was very curious about the Team Rocket Grunt. I felt like there was way more behind that. Then I remembered what Bill said about the bug in the game. He never did clarify if a NPC beat you vs. if a regular person beat you. So far, I didn't see many issues with this, not counting the Team Rocket Grunt issue. I wanted to actually see if we could battle each other and stay alive. "Who do you want to battle then?" Chris asked.

The woman smiled mischievously and pointed at Matt. "I want to battle Mr. Macklin here."

Matt's face went red and he stepped up. I noticed Bill, Elliot, and Audrey hadn't gotten up yet. I quickly walked over and checked on them. They were just fine, except their ears were still ringing and they couldn't hear any of us. Matt was ready to battle, but I pulled him aside.

"Are you sure about this Matthew? You could die."

"Yes, I'm sure. Why did you just call me Matthew?"

"That's beside the point, but I don't know if we can trust this woman. We don't even know her name and she seems crazy."

"I'll be fine Jake. Besides, she can't be too hard." He said with a smirk.

Audrey's Charmeleon lit a fire and lit up the battlefield and Matt and the woman were positioned to battle. A giant question box appeared in front of the both of them asking if they wanted to battle. Both of them clicked the "Yes" option and the battle music started playing out of some sort of invisible speakers. I was hoping Matt would win. If he died, I didn't know what I would be able to do with myself.

 **A/N So I've started watching a popular anime called Sword Art Online and I've noticed it has a lot of similarities with this fanfiction. Let me be clear, neither me nor my friend, the one who came up with the idea, were influenced by SOA. It's a great anime, I like it, and I just want people who watch the anime and read this fanfiction to be cleared of any questions. Now, school has just started back and I will have zero free time because I'm taking tougher classes and a whole lot of other personal junk, so updates may take a while, but who knows. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and remember to favorite, follow, and review.**


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